Significance of Measuring CTLL-2 Growth Suppressive Activity of the Sera in the Patients with Castric Cancer

Kazuhiro Ishihara, Yasuyuki Sugiyama, Katsuyuki Kunieda, Souichi Tonomura and Shigetoyo Saji

Second Department of Surgery, Gifu University School of Medicine

The immunological state of sera derived from a total of 200 untreated gastric cancer patients was investigated using a T-cell growth suppression assay (TGSA). An interleukin-2 dependent CTLL-2 cell line was cultured with the sera, and its growth inhibitory effect was analysed. The results were then correlated with the clinicopathological features, immunological parameters, and the presence of tumor markaers in the serum. The prognosis of the patients were then analysed. The TGSA value of the gastric cancer patiens was significantly lower than that of patients with benign diseases, such as cholelithiasis and inguinal hernias. TGSA value decreased significantly in proportion to the grading of gastric cancer stages, the depth of tumor invasion, and the degree of macroscopic liver metastases. When the patients were divided into 2 groups (group 1: TGSA<67. 0, group 2: TGSA≥67. 0), the levels of IAP, CRP, CEA and the subset of neutrophils in the peripheral blood were significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2, whereas the subset of lymphocytes was significantly lower. The prognosis of the low TGSA group (group 1) was significantly poorer than that of the normal TGSA group (group 2). these findings indicate that TGSA values may reflect the grading of gastric cancers and could possibly be used as a parameter to estimate the humoral immune state of the tumor-bearing host.

Key words
gastric cancer, immnological parameter, T-cell growth suppression assay, CTLL-2

Reprint requests
Kazuhiro Ishihara Second Department of Surgery, Gifu University School of Medicine 40 Tsukasamachi Gifu, 500-8705 JAPAN

Accepted
July 30, 2001

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