Choriocarcinoma-induced suppression of lymphocyte activity

The aim of the investigation was to study the influence of human choriocarc inoma cell culture supernatants (HCS) on the expression of lymphocyte surfa ce molecules. Lymphocytes were stimulated with phytohemagglutinin in cultur e medium supplemented with 50% HCS. After 12 h and 60 h, fluorescence-activ ated cell sorter analysis was performed with specific monoclonal antibodies . After 12 h of incubation, the cell surface expression of the classical ac tivation markers CD25, CD69, CD71, CD134 and CD3/HLA-DR, as well as of the apoptosis marker CD95 were significantly suppressed by HCS. Qualitatively s imilar results were obtained after 60 h. It was concluded that choriocarcin oma-induced suppression might be related to a nearly complete block in the cell cycle at early activation steps. The clinical and biological relevance of this phenomenon for the maternal-fetal tolerance are briefly discussed.