Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Clinical and Experimental Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Experimental Immunology
. 1983 Jan;51(1):149–156.

Suppressor cell activity in peripheral blood in cancer patients after surgery.

I Grzelak, W L Olszewski, A Engeset
PMCID: PMC1536739  PMID: 6219838

Abstract

The influence of operative trauma on the responsiveness of PBM to PHA and Con A and the level of Con A-induced suppressor cell (Con A-SC) activity toward autologous responder cells (RC) were examined in patients with stage 0 uterine cancer after hysterectomy. The operation brought about a decrease on the second post-operative day in the responsiveness of PBM to various concentrations of PHA by 19.2-28.8% and to Con A by 31.2-41.8%, concomitantly with a decline in Con A-SC activity from 43.7 to 22.0%. When the Con A-SC were tested against RC obtained from blood samples drawn prior to surgery and stored at -196 degrees C, an increase in the post-operative SC activity from 41.6 to 52.2% was observed which might indicate a post-operative stimulation of SC. On the other hand, when Con A-SC were raised from PBM drawn before surgery and tested against RC obtained post-operatively, they displayed a decreasing suppressive activity from 27.2 to 2.7%. This might be due to the pre- and post-operative stimulation of RC. The observed changes were most likely caused by a transient decrease in the number of blood T lymphocytes, altered proportions of blood T cells to other PBM cells and probably a non-specific stimulation of autologous cells responding in the suppressor cell activity assay.

Full text

PDF
149

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Blomgren H., Baral E., Petrini B., Wasserman J. Impaired lymphocyte responses to PPD-tuberculin in advanced breast carcinoma. Increased reactivity after depletion of phagocytic or adherent cells. Clin Oncol. 1976 Dec;2(4):379–392. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Broder S., Muul L., Waldmann T. A. Suppressor cells in neoplastic disease. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1978 Jul;61(1):5–11. doi: 10.1093/jnci/61.1.5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Callery C. D., Golightly M., Sidell N., Golub S. H. Lymphocyte surface markers and cytotoxicity following cryopreservation. J Immunol Methods. 1980;35(3-4):213–223. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(80)90248-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Catalona W. J., Ratliff T. L., McCool R. E. Concanavalin A-activated suppressor cell activity in peripheral blood lymphocytes of urologic cancer patients. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1980 Sep;65(3):553–557. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Everson N. W., Neoptolemos J. P., Scott D. J., Wood R. F., Bell P. R. The effect of surgical operation upon monocytes. Br J Surg. 1981 Apr;68(4):257–260. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800680412. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fujimoto S., Greene M., Sehon A. H. Immunosuppressor T cells in tumor bearing host. Immunol Commun. 1975;4(3):201–217. doi: 10.3109/08820137409055774. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Han T. Postoperative immunosuppression in patients with breast cancer. Lancet. 1972 Apr 1;1(7753):742–743. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(72)90248-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hersh E. M., Gutterman J. U., Mavligit G. M., Mountain C. W., McBride C. M., Brugess M. A., Lurie P. M., Zelen M., Takita H., Vincent R. G. Immunocompetence, immunodeficiency and prognosis in cancer. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1976;276:386–406. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1976.tb41664.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Howard R. J. Effect of burn injury, mechanical trauma, and operation on immune defenses. Surg Clin North Am. 1979 Apr;59(2):199–211. doi: 10.1016/s0039-6109(16)41780-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Humphrey L. J., Humphrey M. A., Singla O., Volenec F. J. Immunologic responsiveness of patients with cancer: relationship to tumor type, stage and prognosis. Ann Surg. 1981 May;193(5):574–578. doi: 10.1097/00000658-198105000-00006. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Jerrells T. R., Dean J. H., Richardson G. L., McCoy J. L., Herberman R. B. Role of suppressor cells in depression of in vitro lymphoproliferative responses of lung cancer and breast cancer patients. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1978 Oct;61(4):1001–1009. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Miller C. L., Baker C. C. Changes in lymphocyte activity after thermal injury. The role of suppressor cells. J Clin Invest. 1979 Feb;63(2):202–210. doi: 10.1172/JCI109290. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Moorhead J. W., Claman H. N. Thymus-derived lymphocytes and hydrocortisone: identification of subsets of theta-bearing cells and redistribution to bone marrow. Cell Immunol. 1972 Sep;5(1):74–86. doi: 10.1016/0008-8749(72)90085-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Munster A. M. Post-traumatic immunosuppression is due to activation of suppressor T cells. Lancet. 1976 Jun 19;1(7973):1329–1330. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(76)92658-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Quan P. C., Burtin P. Demonstration of nonspecific suppressor cells in the peripheral lymphocytes of cancer patients. Cancer Res. 1978 Feb;38(2):288–296. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Roth J. A., Golub S. H., Grimm E. A., Eilber F. R., Morton D. L. Effects of operation on immune response in cancer patients: sequential evaluation of in vitro lymphocyte function. Surgery. 1976 Jan;79(1):46–51. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Salo M., Soppi E., Lassila O., Ruuskanen O. Suppressor lymphocytes during open heart surgery. J Clin Lab Immunol. 1981 May;5(3):159–163. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Slade M. S., Simmons R. L., Yunis E., Greenberg L. J. Immunodepression after major surgery in normal patients. Surgery. 1975 Sep;78(3):363–372. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Thomson S. P., McMahon L. J., Nugent C. A. Endogenous cortisol: a regulator of the number of lymphocytes in peripheral blood. Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1980 Dec;17(4):506–514. doi: 10.1016/0090-1229(80)90146-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Victorino R. M., Hodgson H. J. The short lived suppressor cell assay and its relationship with mitogen responsiveness in normal individuals. J Clin Lab Immunol. 1981 Mar;5(2):107–111. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Winchurch R. A., Munster A. M. Post-traumatic activation of suppressor cells. J Reticuloendothel Soc. 1980 Jan;27(1):83–88. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Zembala M., Mytar B., Popiela T., Asherson G. L. Depressed in vitro peripheral blood lymphocyte response to mitogens in cancer patients: the role of suppressor cells. Int J Cancer. 1977 May 15;19(5):605–613. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910190503. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Experimental Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES