title: Culture of peripheral monocytes in vitro in patients with renal cell carcinoma: a possible prognostic indicator.
abstract: An in vitro assay has been applied in 23 patients with renal cell carcinoma. A mononuclear cell-rich fraction was cultured from peripheral blood of patients with renal cell carcinoma. The number of monocytes maturing into macrophages was quantitated over a period of 7 days. Monocyte maturation was significantly lower in patients with renal cell carcinoma than in normal individuals. Of 10 patients tested both pre- and post-nephrectomy, 8 patients showed clinical improvement after surgery. In all 8, the posttreatment macrophage yield improved significantly from the pretreatment values to approach normal values. In 2 patients found to have metastasis postoperatively, the macrophage yield continued below normal levels. Our results suggest that the in vitro maturation of macrophages from mononuclear cells may parallel clinical events.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D002452:Cell Count; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology; D009000:Monocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies