Immunological studies in patients with central nervous system tumors

Impairment of cell-mediated immunity in patients with primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors has repeatedly been reported but data to demonstrate the underlying immunological defect are not univocal. This report concerns a series of 31 patients harboring a glioma in which we studied: peripheral blood T-lymphocyte subpopulations by monoclonal antibody analysis; cellular responsiveness to mitogens; serum immunoglobulin values. The same parameters were also evaluated in 7 cases of intracranial meningioma and in 8 patients affected by non-proliferative, non-inflammatory CNS diseases. Thirty age-matched healthy volunteers formed the control group. Neither impairment of T-cells as regard to number, responsiveness and subsets, nor abnormal Ig values were found in these groups. However two patients, harboring respectively a third ventricle low grade astrocytoma and an anterior callosal glioblastoma, presented a striking T-cells impairment. These findings might suggest a correlation between hypothalamus and immune system, as already postulated by several previous experimental and clinical studies.