RENAL-CELL CARCINOMAS PRODUCE IL-6, IL-10, IL-11, AND TGF-BETA-1 IN PRIMARY CULTURES AND MODULATE T-LYMPHOCYTE BLAST-TRANSFORMATION

We investigated the immunomodulatory capacity of primary cultures of r enal cell carcinomas (RCC) by assessing production of cytokines and mo dulation of mitogen-induced T lymphocyte blast transformation. The res ults clearly show that immunomodulatory capacity is a common feature o f RCC and that in vitro these tumors can produce interleukin-10 (IL-10 ) up to 20 ng/ml, IL-6 up to 35 mu g/ml (>250 kU/ml in the B9 system), IL-11 up to 15 mu g/ml, and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-be ta 1) up to 22 ng/ml. Furthermore, these tumors have the capacity to m odulate T cell blast transformation over two orders of magnitude in ea ch direction. The correlations of the immunologic properties of tumor cell cultures with the conventional classification of tumors (histolog y, cytology, staging, grading, presence of metastases, and secondary t umors) are analyzed. The significance of these findings for modulation of local immunity by RCC as well as for patient outcome is discussed.