Host immunocompetence in genitourinary cancer: relation to tumor stage and prognosis

We used delayed hypersensitivity skin testing, in vitro lymphocyte blastogenesis, and lymphocyte surface markers to examine the relationships among host immunologic competence, tumor type, tumor stage, prognosis, and the effects of cancer treatments in patients with genitourinary cancer. We found correlations between host immune competence and both tumor stage and prognosis among patients with bladder cancer, renal cell cancer, and those with advanced prostate cancer not receiving endocrine therapy, but not among patients with prostate cancer receiving endocrine therapy. Radiation and chemotherapy suppressed T-lymphocyte levels, but a chemotherapy-induced tumor remission resulted in a rebound of T-cell counts to above normal levels. In tissue sections of bladder cancers, regions of mononuclear infiltration were virtually devoid of cells with complement receptors or receptors for cytophilic antibody, which suggested that lymphocytes infiltrating bladder cancers are predominantly T-lymphocytes.