TUMOR-ASSOCIATED LYMPHO-MONOCYTES FROM NEOPLASTIC EFFUSIONS ARE IMMUNOLOGICALLY DEFECTIVE IN COMPARISON WITH PATIENT AUTOLOGOUS PBMCS BUT ARE CAPABLE OF RELEASING HIGH AMOUNTS OF VARIOUS CYTOKINES

We studied several in vitro activities of tumor-associated lympho-mono cytes (TALMs) and the concentrations of interleukin (IL)-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha, inte rferon (IFN)gamma and soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) in neoplastic eff usions and in the serum of advanced stage cancer patients. Comparisons were made with autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Autolo gous PBMCs were compared with PBMCs from normal subjects used as controls. TALMs were collected from 13 peritoneal and 18 pleural ne oplastic effusions, secondary to primary tumors of different sites, Af ter PHA stimulation, concentrations of IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta and TNF a lpha in culture media of TALMs both from peritoneal and pleural effusi ons were lower than those of autologous PBMCs and, similarly, concentr ations of IL-4 and IL-10 in culture media of TALMs from peritoneal eff usions were lower than those of autologous PBMCs, whereas concentratio ns of IL-4 and IL-10 in culture media of TALMs from pleural effusions were in the same range as those of autologous PBMCs. On the contrary, IL-2, IL-6 and IFN gamma amounts (only from pleural effusions) were si gnificantly higher, IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-6 and TNF alpha pr oduction from patient PBMCs was lower than that of control PBMCs, wher eas production of IL-4, IL-10 and IFN gamma was higher than that of co ntrol PBMCs. Both in peritoneal and in pleural effusions concentration s of IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta and IL-4 were not different from those meas ured in autologous serum, whereas those of IL-6, IL-10, TNF alpha, IFN gamma and sIL-2R were significantly higher, The amounts of IL-2 in pl eural effusions were not different from those of autologous serum, but in peritoneal effusions they were higher than those of autologous ser um. The amounts of IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-6, TNF alpha and sI L-2R were higher in patient than in control sera, whereas those of IL- 4, IL-10 and IFN gamma were in the same range in patient and in contro l sera. Cell cycle analysis of cultured TALMs and PBMCs (from 3 patien ts) showed a significant accumulation of TALMs in the non-cycling C-0/ G(1) cell population compared with autologous PBMCs.