[Lymphocyte subpopulations in malignant bone tumors and their relation to the immune response to the tumor]

Comparative studies of the subpopulations of lymphocytes, isolated from the tumor tissue and blood of 15 osteosarcoma patients, showed that the total lymphocyte count in the neoplasms ranged from 0 to 19% of the total cell population. In various patients tumor lymphocytes were represented either mainly by T cells (up to 80% of lymphocytes) or by "null" cells lacking any surface markers. The population of lymphocytes with surface membrane immunoglobulins with complement and Fc receptors was usually low although the tumors contained up to 90% of nonlymphoid cells with the same markers. Lower (less than 60%) counts of blood T lymphocytes were found only in one third of osteosarcoma patients. The immune response of blood lymphocytes against living autologous tumor cells was found in 85% of the patients, and its intensity depended on the content of T lymphocytes in tumor but not in blood.