NK ACTIVITY OF TUMOR INFILTRATING AND LYMPH NODE LYMPHOCYTES IN HUMAN PULMONARY TUMORS

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter explores the natural killer (NK) activity of tumor infiltrating and lymph node lymphocytes in human pulmonary tumors. In a study described in the chapter, 53Cr-release assays against K562 targets showed low activity among tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from pulmonary tumors of a variety of histologic types. The TIL was obtained by mechanical disaggregation, fractionated by filtration through nylon monofilament mesh to remove tumor cells. The removal of residual tumor cells did not result in improvement of NK activity, indicating that the low NK activity is not because of cold target competition by residual tumor cells. TIL obtained from tumors injected two weeks prior to surgery with intralesional BCG exhibited higher levels of NK activity than TIL from uninjected tumors. Similarly, hilar lymph node lymphocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes from the same patients showed modestly higher NK activity. In three cases, BCG-injected TIL and uninjected TIL from the same patients. These patients had multiple pulmonary metastases, only one of which was BCG injected. It was found that in these cases, the NK activity of uninfected TIL remained low while the NK activity of TIL from the adjacent BCG-injected tumors were high.