THE IN-VITRO EFFECT OF PIDOTIMOD ON SOME IMMUNE FUNCTIONS IN CANCER-PATIENTS

There are several reports concerning an impairment of cellular immune response in patients affected by malignant disease. The aim of this st udy was to evaluate the in vitro effect of Pidotimod, a synthetic biol ogical response modifier, on some immune functions in 14 cancer patien ts. In particular, we showed that these subjects had a significantly r educed peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation both in response to PHA and to Con A in comparison with a group of healthy sub jects. Besides, they showed a significantly reduced PBMC IL2 productio n, which was evaluated both through an ELISA method and a biological a ssay. The in vitro addition of increasing concentrations of Pidotimod (10, 25 and 50 ug/ml) was able to enhance PBMC proliferation and IL2 p roduction significantly. However, in spite of the addition of Pidotimo d, both immune functions in our neoplastic patients did not reach norm al values.