[Enzymatic and immunologic activity of lymphocytes during chemical carcinogenesis]

The activity of acid phosphatase and some dehydrogenases in the peripheral blood lymphocytes was compared with the development of cell immunity, assessed by the macrophage migration inhibition test, during chemical carcinogenesis in Wistar rats. At the early stages of the carcinogenesis the changes of the enzymatic activities of succinic dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase proved to coordinate with a sufficiently high level of the immunological reactivity of the cell type in 66% of the animals. With the progressive growth of the tumours there occurred a disturbance of the enzymatic balance in the lymphoid cells and a simultaneous decrease in the immunological response.