Preoperative cell-mediated immune status of gastric cancer patients

The status of cell-mediated immunity was studied in 360 patients with gastric cancer before surgery. For the skin test, tuberculin and DNCB were employed. For the in vitro test, the blastogenesis of peripheral blood lymphocytes to phytohemagglutinin (PHA), the ratio of rosette-forming T cells to sheep blood red cells, and the macrophage migration inhibiotry factor against autochthonous tumor antigens were measured. As a result, it was found that in progressive gastric cancers the cell-mediated immunity decreased specifically or nonspecifically, especially the DNCB reaction; and the blastogenesis against PHA showed an inverse correlation to the advance of gastric cancer.