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Anti‐Tumour Immunoreactivity in Colonic Carcinoma. A Guide to Early Recognition of Recurrence †††
Author(s) -
Nairn R. C.,
Rollo A. J.,
Nind A. P. P.,
Rolland J. M.,
Guli E. P.,
Pihl E. A. V.,
Stevens D. P.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 0004-8291
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-5994.1974.tb03232.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cytotoxicity , carcinoembryonic antigen , lymphocyte , lymph , colorectal cancer , adenocarcinoma , pathology , radioimmunoassay , splenectomy , carcinoma , gastroenterology , cancer , spleen , biochemistry , chemistry , in vitro
Summary: A 39 year old man, after removal of an adenocarcinoma of the sigmoid colon, had a hemihepatectomy and splenectomy six weeks later for metastatic deposits in the liver. The spleen cells were stored in liquid nitrogen for reinjecting later. His anti‐tumour immunological reactivity was monitored by successive tests for Blood lymphocyte cytotoxicity and for serum antibodies by immunofluorescence; Blood levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were measured by radioimmunoassay. The patient remained well for 10 Months without clinical or radiological evidence of tumour recurrence. That it had recurred, however, was clear from the progressive fall in lymphocyte cytotoxicity against the patient's own tumour cells, increasing serum inhibition of the cytotoxicity and rising CEA levels. At laparotomy, recurrent tumours in the primary area, regional lymph nodes and liver were resected and the stored splenocytes were reinjected around the operation sites. Surgical resection of tumour was consistently accompanied by increasing lymphocyte cytotoxicity, and reduced serum inhibition and CEA; tumour recurrence had opposite effects. The tumour immunological monitoring permitted diagnosis of the cancer recurrence earlier than the CEA assay and much earlier than conventional methods. It is predicted that such immunological investigations for cancer diagnosis, treatment and prognosis will be widely and increasingly employed.