[Decreased count of small lymphocytes in the blood of patients with malignant bone tumors]. / Snizhenie soderzhaniia malykh limfotsitov v krovi bol'nykh so zlokachestvennymi kostnymi opukholiami.

Blood small lymphocyte (not exceeding 7.5 micron in diameter) counts obtained from patients with malignant bone tumors in the course of primary examination were 40-75% those in healthy subjects. The said changes were registered only in some patients with osteoblastoclastoma; they were not observed in cases of trauma, osteomyelitis, sepsis, spontaneous osteolysis and chronic synovitis. The study failed to establish a correlation between blood small lymphocyte count, on the one hand, and concentrations of total, stable and active T-lymphocytes as well as autologous E-rosettes, on the other. In the course of separation of lymphocytes in percoll density gradients, small lymphocytes concentrated in high density fractions. Purified small lymphocytes of healthy subjects appeared to be mainly T-lymphocytes, particularly, "activated" ones. Proliferative response to PHA and production of interleukin-2 in cell cultures showing high levels of small lymphocytes were higher than in those with moderate or low concentration of the said cells. Small lymphocytes are considered to be a special subset of T-cells which exhibit high functional activity and may be identified only morphologically. Lowered counts of these cells are attributed to neoplastic growth.

[Comparative analysis of immune response indices in lung cancer]. / Sravnitel'nyi analiz pokazatelei immunologicheskoi reaktivnosti pri rake legkogo.

In 43 patients with cancer of the lung, a number of immunologic indexes were evaluated including lymphocyte response to PHA, lymphokine production, serum immunoglobulin levels and the regulatory effect of sera and T-lymphocytes on lymphokine production. No significant deficiency in T- and B-lymphocytes was registered in patients with stage I-III cancer, nor any rise in TG cell level was in evidence. The response to PHA was low; however, the capacity to produce lymphokines in the presence of allogeneic or autologous tumor antigens was unimpaired. Purified T- and TG-cells isolated from blood or tumor tissue suppressed immune response in leukocyte migration inhibition test. However, this effect was not related to the increase in levels of these cells in the circulation. The autologous sera of practically all tumor-sensitized patients exerted a blocking effect in vitro. This effect was related neither to levels of serum immunoglobulins, nor to those of blood TG cells.