Clinical studies on cell-mediated immunity in patients with urinary bladder carcinoma: blastogenic response, interleukin-2 production and interferon-gamma production of lymphocytes.

Patients with advanced malignant neoplasms have a variety of abnormal lymphocyte functions. We examined the PHA blastogenic response, interleukin-2 (IL-2) production and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production of lymphocytes in 39 bladder cancer patients and 20 control subjects. Correlation between these parameters was also studied. IL-2 production was measured by 3H-thymidine-labelled CTLL-2 assay, and IFN-gamma production was measured by immunoradiometric assay using 2 mouse monoclonal antibodies. As a result, in high stage bladder cancer patients, the PHA blastogenic response, IL-2 production and IFN-gamma production were impaired. However, these parameters were not significantly different between low stage bladder cancer patients and control subjects. There was a significant correlation between the PHA blastogenic response and IL-2 production but no significant correlation between the PHA blastogenic response and IFN-gamma production.