[Killer activities of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with bladder cancer]

Killer activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with or without adding interleukin-2 in vitro was measured in 12 patients with superficial bladder cancer, 12 patients with invasive bladder cancer and 13 adult healthy controls. Cultured cell lines, K562, Raji and T-24 (bladder carcinoma), were served as target cells. Killer activity was measured by a 4-hour 51Cr-release assay. Mononuclear cells from patients with superficial bladder cancer had a significantly higher natural killer activity against K562 and T-24 (50.8 +/- 6.2% and 15.0 +/- 9.5%, respectively) than those from patients with invasive bladder cancer (28.2 +/- 8.0%, 9.5 +/- 8.8%) and than those from controls (33.0 +/- 8.9%, 3.0 +/- 2.5%). When cultured in vitro with recombinant interleukin-2, mononuclear cells from patients with superficial bladder cancer developed a significantly higher killer activity against K562, Raji and T-24 (58.4 +/- 5.8%, 40.1 +/- 15.9% and 49.5 +/- 10.5%, respectively) than those from patients with invasive bladder cancer (48.1 +/- 5.9%, 27.9 +/- 13.8% and 40.1 +/- 7.4%) and than those from controls (48.9 +/- 6.7%, 30.3 +/- 10.5% and 39.5 +/- 3.8%). Flow cytometric analysis showed that there was no significant difference in surface markers between mononuclear cells from patients with superficial bladder cancer and those from patients with invasive bladder cancer. These results suggest that tumor immunity may participate in development and progression of bladder cancer.