[Evaluation of cellular immunity in pulmonary sarcoidosis and primary lung cancer]

We tested the cellular immunity of the patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis (n = 16) and primary lung cancer (n = 14). The data showed that PHA-p induced peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) proliferation and interleukin 2 (IL-2) productivity were significantly reduced in both patients groups, and also the PBL proliferation induced by exogenous recombined IL-2 was reduced, but not significantly (P > 0.05) compared with normal central. Our results suggested that cellular immunodepression may exist in pulmonary sarcoidosis and primary lung cancer patients, the exogenous IL-2 can partly restore the reduced PBL proliferation. So the cytokine may play a role in the immunologic treatment of lung cancer and the research of pulmonary sarcoidosis.