Premium
Interferon activity and its characterization in the sera of patients with head and neck cancer
Author(s) -
Sato Mitsunobu,
Yoshida Hideo,
Yanagawa Tetsuo,
Yura Yoshiaki,
Urata Mitsuru,
Atsumi Masahiro,
Furumoto Nanayo,
Hayashi Yoshio,
Takegawa Yoshihiro
Publication year - 1984
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(19841001)54:7<1239::aid-cncr2820540702>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - medicine , titer , stomatitis , antiserum , vesicular stomatitis virus , interferon , head and neck cancer , cancer , metastasis , immunology , alpha interferon , antibody , virus , gastroenterology
The interferon (IFN) assay of the sera from the 40 patients with head and neck cancer was performed by the plaque‐reduction assay with vesicular stomatitis virus in FL cells derived from human amniotic membrane. The patients mainly had Stage III or IV lesion without distant metastasis, and previously had not received any cancer therapy. All of the patients were histologically diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. When the serum IFN activity was characterized by acid treatment, significant increases of IFN‐α/β/γ (n = 24, P < 0.05) and acid‐labile IFN (n = 24, P < 0.001), and significant decrease of acid‐stable IFN (n = 24, P < 0.001) in the cancer patients of 50‐to‐79‐year age group were found, as compared with those in the normal controls of the same age group (n = 20). When IFN titers including various immunologic parameters of the patients and normal controls were simultaneously assayed prior to the beginning of the cancer therapy, the titers of IFN‐α/β/γ, acid‐stable IFN, and acid‐labile IFN were significantly correlated with some immunologic parameters such as natural killer (NK) activity, the absolute number of Tγ lymphocytes, the percentages of β‐ and γ‐globulin, and the amounts of IgA, IgG, IgM, and β 2 microglobulin. To define further the nature of this IFN, both sera of the patients and normal donors of 50‐to‐79‐year age group were characterized by a neutralization assay with an antiserum to HuIFN‐α and HUIFN‐β. The IFN activity left when the testing sera were neutralized with these antisera was expressed as γ‐like IFN. The titers of γ‐like IFN in the sera of patients (n = 24, P < 0.0001) showed a highly significant increase as compared with the normal controls (n = 20). When the correlation between prognosis of the disease and titers of serum IFN were investigated by measuring γ‐like IFN and acid‐stable IFN in the sera of patients, all of nine patients with good prognosis after the cancer treatment showed significant decreased levels of γ‐like IFN ( P < 0.01) and acid‐stable IFN ( P < 0.05) as compared with those on the time before cancer therapy. On the other hand, titers of γ‐like IFN in the sera of six patients with recurrent disease showed a significant increase as compared with those on the IFN measurement before cancer therapy ( P < 0.05). These findings led us to suggest that the serum IFN levels, especially γ‐like IFN activity, may be associated with a function of some loops of the immune system in the patients with head and neck cancer.