Human papillomaviruses in 91 oral cancers from Indian betel quid chewers--high prevalence and multiplicity of infections.

India has one of the world's highest incidences of oral cancer. The habit of chewing betel quid is widespread and is suspected to play a role in the etiology of this disease. Studies in many other countries have also pointed to a role for human papilloma-viruses (HPVs) in the etiology of some oral cancers.

Immunoregulation of T-lymphocytes by autologous serum in oral-cancer.

Autologous sera from 130 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the buccal mucosa were evaluated for its immunoregulatory effect on the different sheep erythrocyte resetting populations of the patients. All the T cell populations were significantly reduced in oral cancer patients. The patient sera could be classified into blockers (0.

CD2 related immunoregulation in oral cancer.

Sera from 93 patients with carcinoma of the buccal mucosa were analysed for its regulatory effect on CD2 antigen expression using anti CD2 monoclonal antibodies and sheep erythrocyte rosetting assay. The sera from 55.5% of the patients showed an inhibitory effect (blocker sera) while sera from 44.

Interferon and interleukin-2 induced spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity: a preliminary evaluation.

The contribution of natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity and its modulation with biological response modifiers in antitumour immunity was evaluated in patients with precancers and cancers of the oral cavity. The results were compared to those in normal controls. Both groups of patients showed highly significant depression of the natural killer cell activity.

Lymphocyte subset distribution after radiation therapy for cancer of the uterine cervix. Possible prognostic implications and correlation with disease course.

An analysis of lymphocyte subpopulations was done in patients with cancer of the uterine cervix before and at different intervals after the commencement of radiation therapy. A common feature was a duration of T-cell and B-cell lymphopenia after therapy. The findings relating to the T-cell subsets were interesting.

Interferon activation of latent natural killer cells and alteration in kinetics of target cell lysis: clinical implications for oral precancerous lesions.

Reduced natural killer cell activity was observed in patients with oral leukoplakia and submucous fibrosis compared with normal control subjects. However, the number of target binding lymphocytes was found to be normal in these precancers. Treatment of effector cells with interferon-alpha resulted in highly elevated active killer cell activity, although no change was observed in target binding lymphocyte counts.

Clinical and prognostic significance of concanavalin-A-induced suppressor cell activity in malignant cervical neoplasia.

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with different stages of cancer of the uterine cervix were analysed for concanavalin-A-induced suppressor cell activity. All cancer patients had high levels of suppressor activity, the increase corresponding to tumour load. Radiotherapy resulted in further increase of suppressor activity.

Radiation associated eosinophilia and monocytosis in carcinoma of the uterine cervix: a simple reliable clinical and prognostic indicator.

Clinical and prognostic significance of radiation associated eosinophilia (RAE) and radiation associated monocytosis (RAM) was evaluated in 176 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix followed up after radiotherapy. Significant RAE was noticed in patients with Stages I/IIA and IIB who remained disease-free after treatment. On the contrary, patients belonging to these two stages but who developed recurrent disease showed absence of RAE.

Immunocompetence in lung cancer. Relationship to extent of tumor burden and histologic type.

In vitro assays of immunocompetence were done in 60 patients with differing extents of tumor load and various histologic types of lung cancer and were compared to values obtained for 60 normal controls. Profound alterations in monoclonal antibody-defined T-lymphocytes and circulating B-cells were seen. All patients showed impaired blastogenic response to the mitogens used with the exception of a normal response to pokeweed mitogen (PWM) in patients with localized disease.

Interleukin 2 production in lymphocyte cultures: a rapid test for cancer-associated immunodeficiency in malignant cervical neoplasia.

Peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients with malignant cervical neoplasia were studied for their capacity to produce interleukin-2 (IL-2) upon in vitro mitogen stimulation. Patients with early disease (Stage I/IIA) showed levels comparable to normal controls but those with advanced disease showed reduced levels, the reduction increasing with tumour load. These findings excellently correlated with our previous observations on a depressed cellular immunity in these patients.

Immune reactive proteins as prognostic and clinical markers in malignant cervical neoplasia.

The significance of immune reactive proteins in malignant cervical neoplasia, with particular reference to its prognostic and clinical relevance, was studied in 229 patients. All stages of the disease showed elevated levels of circulating immune complexes (CIC). Patients with stages I/IIA showed elevated levels of IgG, whereas those with stages III and IV showed depressed IgM levels.

Immune function in malignant cervical neoplasia: a multiparameter analysis.

Immunological assessment was carried out in 67 patients with various stages and histological grades of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix and compared with normal controls to discover whether any of these parameters could be used as an indicator of the patient's clinical status. The results show a gross impairment of the various lymphocyte subpopulations and anti-tumor immunity. This impairment was more pronounced in patients with high tumor load and having a histology of poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas.