Immunoregulation of T-lymphocytes by autologous serum in oral-cancer

Autologous sera from 130 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the buccal mucosa were evaluated for its immunoregulatory effect on the different sheep erythrocyte resetting populations of the patients. All the T cell populations were significantly reduced in oral cancer patients. The patient sera could be classified into blockers (0.5%-80% inhibition) and enhancers (0.5 to 130% enhancement) based on their activity on rosette formation. The degree of blocking and enhancement showed strong correlation with the severity of the disease with enhancers dominating the lower grades and blockers dominating the severe grades of the cancer. The dominance of enhancer sera in groups with better clinical prognosis suggest the ser;um enhancing activity to be related to good prognosis.