Immunomodulation of nodal lymphocytes in head and neck cancer

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the interaction of human neck node lymphocytes with primary tumor cells could be modulated with the administration of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) or N-acetylmuramyldipeptide (MDP). The procedures involve the clonogenic assay applied towards studying the interactions of neck node lymphocytes with the tumor-stem cell population. It has been previously demonstrated that a dynamic interaction occurs between neck nodal lymphocytes and tumor. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin or MDP was incubated for three days with lymphocytes from neck nodes, after which the human squamous tumor cells from the patient were exposed continuously to the resulting lymphokines in soft agar. Ninety percent of the cases studied exhibit inhibition of tumor cell proliferation with BCG- or MDP-treated lymphocytes. The data suggest both BCG and MDP may enhance regional nodal lymphocyte tumor inhibition.