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6th ESACP Congress, Heidelberg, April 7-11, 1999 |
A158
Tobacco smokers are at a higher risk for lung cancer than nonsmokers.
One of the reasons of the risk are changes in the lung immunological
status. Evaluation of lymphocyte subsets according to the smoking
history of patients may be important in cancer prevention and therapy.
BALF cells from smokers and nonsmokers with primary lung cancer, as
well as healthy smokers and nonsmokers, respectively, were compared.
Two-color flow cytometry was applied, following immunocytochemical
reactions with monoclonal antibodies. An increase in the total number
of cells in BALF of smoking persons and increased proportion of
macrophages was observed. The percentage of CD8+ lymphocytes was 1.7
times higher, whereas the proportions of CD4+ cells and a CD4/CD8
ratio were lower 1.5 and 2.6 times, respectively, in the BALF of
cigarette smoking healthy persons when compared with nonsmoking
volunteers. The changes did not depend on the age of the person.
Significant differences in lymphocyte subsets in peripheral airways
were found between lung cancer smoking and nonsmoking patients. The
ratio of CD8+ to CD3+ cells in BALF of smokers with lung cancer was
higher than those in BALF of nonsmoking lung cancer patients. In
conclusion, the BALF lymphocyte subsets of smoking cancer patients
should be compared with the results of healthy smokers, while
nonsmoking lung cancer patient's BALFs with that of nonsmoking
persons.
COMPARISON OF THE IMMUNOLOGICAL STATUS IN THE LUNG PERIPHERAL AIRWAYS
OF SMOKERS AND NONSMOKERS WITH PRIMARY LUNG CANCER
Kawiak J, Hoser G, Domagala-Kulawik J, Droszcz P, Droszcz W
Department of Clinical Cytology Medical Centre of Postgraduate Education and
Department of Pulmonology, School of Medicine, Warsaw, Poland