Suppressor cell activity in peripheral blood in cancer patients after surgery

The influence of operative trauma on the responsiveness of PBM to PHA and Con A and the level of Con A-induced suppressor cell (Con A-SC) activity toward autologous responder cells (RC) were examined in patients with stage 0 uterine cancer after hysterectomy. The operation brought about a decrease on the second post-operative day in the responsiveness of PBM to various concentrations of PHA by 19.2-28.8% and to Con A by 31.2-41.8%, concomitantly with a decline in Con A-SC activity from 43.7 to 22.0%. When the Con A-SC were tested against RC obtained from blood samples drawn prior to surgery and stored at -196 degrees C, an increase in the post-operative SC activity from 41.6 to 52.2% was observed which might indicate a post-operative stimulation of SC. On the other hand, when Con A-SC were raised from PBM drawn before surgery and tested against RC obtained post-operatively, they displayed a decreasing suppressive activity from 27.2 to 2.7%. This might be due to the pre- and post-operative stimulation of RC. The observed changes were most likely caused by a transient decrease in the number of blood T lymphocytes, altered proportions of blood T cells to other PBM cells and probably a non-specific stimulation of autologous cells responding in the suppressor cell activity assay.