K. Kono et al., DECREASED EXPRESSION OF SIGNAL-TRANSDUCING ZETA-CHAIN IN PERIPHERAL T-CELLS AND NATURAL-KILLER-CELLS IN PATIENTS WITH CERVICAL-CANCER, Clinical cancer research, 2(11), 1996, pp. 1825-1828
An impaired immune response is frequently observed in patients and exp
erimental animals with advanced cancer. We and others have shown alter
ations in CD3-associated signal-transducing zeta molecules in tumor-in
filtrating T cells and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) of patients
with advanced cancer, By using flow cytometric analysis of permeabili
zed cells with a monoclonal antibody (TIA-2) that reacts with the cyto
plasmic domain of the zeta chain, here we demonstrate a marked decreas
e (P < 0.01) in the expression of the signal-transducing CD3 zeta chai
n of PBLs in patients with cervical cancer (n = 22) as compared to PBL
s from healthy donors (n = 21). In addition, PBLs isolated from patien
ts (n = 23) with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), to a lesser
but significant (P < 0.01) extent, expressed reduced CD3 zeta levels
as compared to those from healthy donors, This decreased expression of
zeta chains was also observed on CD16(+) natural killer cells in PBLs
from patients with cervical cancer, Surface expression of CD3 epsilon
on PBLs was also decreased in cervical cancer patients as compared to
healthy donors, but not on PBLs from patients with GIN. CD3 zeta chai
n expression significantly (r = 0.53, P < 0.01) correlated with the ab
ility of the PBLs to produce tumor necrosis factor in response to anti
-CD3 stimulation, These findings suggest that alterations of signal-tr
ansducing zeta molecules commonly occur in patients with cervical canc
er and to a lesser extent with GIN, and that they are associated with
reduced cellular functions such as production of tumor necrosis factor
.