| Abstract: | Cell-mediated immunity was studied by measurement of lymphocyte response to autologous tumor cells in 19 surgically treated patients with histologically proved (mixed lymphocyte tumor cell culture) renal cell carcinoma. Tumor stage was low in 9 patients and high in 10, while grade was low in 11 and high in 8. Of 8 patients in whom a positive lymphocyte response was detected 6 had high and 2 had low stage tumors (p less than 0.05), while the grade of disease was low in 7 and high in 1 (p less than 0.05). Furthermore, the more advanced and undifferentiated the tumor the more significant the decrease in lymphocyte response (p less than 0.05). Lymphocyte response was positive in 5 of 8 patients with low stage and low grade tumors but negative in 7 with high stage and high grade disease. However, no correlation between the lymphocyte response and the degree of microscopic lymphocytic infiltration in and around the tumor was found. This study confirms that the specific immunological defense mechanism of patients with renal cell carcinoma against the tumors remains well at an earlier stage of tumor development, especially in cases with well differentiated malignancy, and showed attenuation in parallel with pathological spread or in poorly differentiated tumors. |
