Clinical and prognostic significance of concanavalin-A induced suppressor cell activity in malignant cervical neoplasia

Abstract

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with different stages of cancer of the uterine cervix were analysed for concanavalin-A induced suppressor cell activity. All cancer patients had high levels of suppressor activity, the increase corresponding to tumour load. Radiotherapy resulted in further increase of suppressor activity. About six months after radiotherapy, patients who remained disease free returned to pretreatment levels of suppressor cell activity and later showed even lewer levels of suppression. On the other hand, patients who developed recurrent disease maintained sustained high levels of suppression and for all stages they always had higher suppressor activity than the patients who remained disease free in the corresponding stage. These results stress the importance of a possible deranged immune system in these patients and also shows the clinical and prognostic significance of the assay.