Evaluation of lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with bladder cancer: a study with monoclonal antibodies

Abstract

47症例の末梢血について, モノクローナル抗体(OKT3, OKT4, OKT8, OKIal)を用いて, フローサイトメトリーにて解析した.患者は, i)未治療患者35人, ii)既治療患者12人の2群に分け, 健康人20人を対照として検討した.未治療患者ではリンパ球数及びOKT3陽性細胞の割合の低下が認められた.さらに, OKT4陽性細胞の減少, OKT8陽性細胞の増加により, OKT4/OKT8比の低下が認められた.この傾向は, high stage膀胱癌患者において, より著明であった.一方, 既治療患者では著明なサブポピュレーションの変化は認められなかった.また, low stage膀胱癌患者において再発率とOKT4/OKT8比との関係をみると, 再発率の高い例では, OKT4/OKT8比がより低下している傾向がみられた

Peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations of 47 patients with bladder cancer were analyzed using monoclonal antibodies (OKT3, OKT4, OKT8 and OKIa7). Thirty five patients were untreated, and 12 were treated, disease-free patients. In untreated patients, the number of total lymphocytes and the percentage of OKT3+ cells decreased. Among the OKT3+ T cell population, the percentage of OKT4+ cells tended to decrease significantly, whereas the percentage of OKT8+ cells rather increased, resulting in the decrease of the OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio. These tendencies became more evident as the stage advanced. In treated, disease-free patients, no such characteristic changes were observed and the lymphocyte subpopulation apparently fell into the normal range. Furthermore, the retrospective study clearly indicated that the patients with a lower OKT4+/OKT8+ ratio showed a higher recurrence rate within a year. Analysis of peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations thus appears to be useful in the follow-up of bladder cancer patients, especially those with superficial tumors.