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Short‐ and long‐term effects of radiation on T‐cell subsets in peripheral blood of patients with Hodgkin's disease
Author(s) -
Romagnani Sergio,
Maggi Enrico,
Prete Gianfranco Del,
Biti Giampaolo,
Ponticelli Pietro,
Ricci Mario
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19801215)46:12<2590::aid-cncr2820461210>3.0.co;2-d
Subject(s) - medicine , radiation therapy , peripheral blood , peripheral , receptor , t cell , gastroenterology , lymphocyte subsets , immunology , pathology , endocrinology , immune system
The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of radiotherapy on subpopulations of peripheral blood T cells from patients with Hodgkin's disease. T cells were purified from each specimen, and proportions and absolute numbers of T lymphocytes bearing receptors for the Fc portion of IgG (T G ) and for Fc portion of IgM (T M ) were enumerated by rosetting T cells with ox red blood cells (ORBC), which had been coated with anti‐ORBC rabbit IgG or IgM, respectively. In untreated patients, the percentage of T G cells was significantly increased, and the percentage of T M cells was significantly decreased when compared with control values. In patients examined after radiotherapy, there was a severe depletion of total T lymphocytes. The percent and absolute values of T M cells were also markedly decreased in comparison with those found in either normal controls or untreated patients. In contrast, relative proportions of T G cells were significantly increased in the same treated patients, but the absolute numbers of these cells were essentially unchanged in comparison with those found before radiation therapy. There was a partial and progressive restoration of the number of T M lymphocytes some years after the treatment, but reduced percentages of T M lymphocytes and increased percentages of T G lymphocytes were still found in patients in continuous complete remission for at least five years or more. Similar alterations of the two T‐cell subsets were also found in the peripheral blood of a small group of patients treated with radiation for testicular seminoma. These data clearly demonstrate that radiation therapy has a differential effect on identifiable and distinct subsets of cells in the human T‐cell class.