HLA class I and class II expression of pulmonary adenocarcinoma cells and the influence of interferon gamma.
BACKGROUND
The clinico-biological significance of HLA (both class I antigen and class II one) expressed on tumor cells still remains controversial.


METHODS
Tumor cells were freshly separated from 33 surgical specimens of pulmonary adenocarcinoma. The tumor cells were incubated for 24 h in the presence or absence of IFN-gamma (130 International Units/ml). After incubation, the cells were cytocentrifuged onto glass slides and immunostained with either an anti-HLA class I (A, B, C) monoclonal antibody or anti-HLA class II (DR) one.


RESULTS
In 22 of 33 cases (66.7%), the HLA class I were individually expressed by more than 60% of tumor cells while so were the HLA class II in 15 (45.4%). No significant correlation was observed between the HLA class I expression and the HLA class II one. The proportion of HLA class I-positive tumor cells correlated with neither the grade of histological differentiation nor the stage of disease. In contrast, the proportion of HLA class II-positive tumor cells correlated with both the grade of histological differentiation and the stage. In most cases, IFN-gamma was found to increase the proportion of class II-positive tumor cells as well as that of class I-positive cells.


CONCLUSIONS
The above findings thus suggested that the HLA class II expression might therefore represent a manifestation of cellular differentiation and that IFN-gamma may, as a result, have the potential to differentiate cancer cells.
Yano
T
T
Department of Chest Surgery, National Kyushu Cancer Center, Fukuoka, Japan.
Fukuyama
Y
Y
Yokoyama
H
H
Kuninaka
S
S
Asoh
H
H
Katsuda
Y
Y
Ichinose
Y
Y
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging
D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D007371:Interferon-gamma