Reduced LAK cytotoxicity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with bladder cancer: decreased LAK cytotoxicity caused by a low incidence of CD56+ and CD57+ mononuclear blood cells.

The cytotoxicity of unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (US-PBMC), phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated PBMC (PS-PBMC) and interleukin-2 (IL-2)-activated PBMC (LAK cells) was assessed in patients with noninvasive and invasive transitional-cell bladder cancer and compared with those determined in healthy controls. The differences in the cytotoxicities were correlated with specific changes in the subsets of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). PBMC from 37 patients and 13 healthy controls were tested against the bladder cancer cell line T24 in 51Cr-release assays. The PBMC subsets were analyzed using monoclonal antibodies against T cells, natural killer (NK) -cells, monocytes, and activation markers. The cytotoxicities of US-PBMC, PS-PBMC, and LAK cells were all significantly lower in the cancer patients than in the controls (P less than 0.05). The percentages of PBMC positive for the NK-cell markers CD56 and CD57 were lowest in the patients and were correlated to the decrease in cytotoxicity. Depletion of CD56+ or CD57+ cells from PBMC prior to or after 2 days stimulation with IL-2 demonstrated that these cells are the major source of LAK-cell cytotoxicity and showed that the reduced ability of bladder cancer patient PBMC to develop LAK-cell cytotoxicity is a result of a low incidence of CD56+ and CD57+ cells in the blood. These findings indicate that IL-2 therapy alone might not be a sufficient therapy of bladder cancer patients.