[Host immunological status modification by various chemotherapeutic drugs]

There are many unsolved problems about the effects on a host's cellular immunologic status by various chemotherapeutics used routinely. Thus, we performed an experimental study mainly on these effects using mouse effector cells. We administered the usual therapeutic dosage of various chemotherapeutic agents to 8-week female C57BL/6 mice, and 3 days after these administrations all mice were sacrificed and splenectomised. The number of splenocytes in whole spleen, LAK precursor cell activity, NK cell activity, and IL-2 productivity were determined, and these results were compared with those for normal mice. Although CY, 5-FU, MMC and LIB exhibited immunologic depressive effects, BLM and PEP showed augmentative effects, and ADR and CDDP no effects. It seemed important that the appropriate drug selection be made on the basis of the above data in order to be the best therapeutic regimen for the individual patient's malignancy.