Peripheral T gamma lymphocyte population in head and neck cancer.

Peripheral T gamma lymphocytes were measured in head and neck cancer patients and controls. The percentage was significantly higher in the 59 cancer patients than in the 46 normal controls (P less than 0.001). The 12 patients with recurrent disease had elevated percentages of T gamma lymphocytes compared with the untreated group (n = 31; P less than 0.05) and the treated, disease-free group (n = 16; P less than 0.05). Moreover, the percentage of T gamma lymphocytes was significantly higher in the 31 patients with regional lymph node metastasis than in the node-negative group (n = 28; P less than 0.05). In a total of 37 patients with squamous cell carcinoma histologically graded I, II, and III, the absolute counts and percentages of T gamma lymphocytes in the grade I group (n = 13) showed significant decreases compared with those in the grade III group (P less than 0.05; n = 6). Moreover, postoperative serial determinations of the percentage of T gamma lymphocytes in the 14 treated, disease-free patients revealed a gradual decrease of T gamma lymphocytes, whereas the five patients with recurrent disease had a tendency to increases in the percentage of T gamma lymphocytes.