Secretion of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon (IFN gamma)in whole blood cell culture stimulated with mitogens in patients with lung neoplasms

The aim of this study was to compare the ability of blood lymphocytes from lung cancer patients to secrete interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon gamma (IFNg) upon stimulation with mitogens with that of healthy donors. 42 patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), 30 patients with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 30 healthy donors were studied. The test was done in lung cancer patients before treatment. IL-2 and IFNg levels were measured with Elisa ready kits (Genzyme) in the supernatants of whole blood culture after stimulation with Pokeweed (PWM) and Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) mitogens. The results of the cytokine levels after stimulation were not normally distributed and thus were transformed to logarthms for statistical evaluation. The t-test for transformed results were used to asses the difference between groups. The median level of IFNg in the supernatant of whole blood cultures was significantly lower in lung cancer patients than in healthy blood donors both after PWM as well as after PHA stimulation. When patients with NSCLC and SCLC were regarded separately the lower level of IFNg in comparison with healthy donors was found in the supernatant of the blood cultures only after stimulation with PWM. The median level of IL-2 in the supernatant of whole blood culture in lung cancer patients was lower than in healthy blood donors only after PWM stimulation. The same was true for SCLC patients. In NSCLC IL-2 levels were significantly lower after stimulation with PWM as well after PHA stimulation. In conclusion: secretion of IL-2 and IFNg in whole blood culture after mitogen stimulation in lung cancer patients is significantly lower than in healthy donors. No significant differences between SCLC and NSCLC were found.