Functional analysis of tumor-associated lymphocytes from gynecological tumors

Tumor-Associated Lymphocytes (TAL) were isolated from peritoneal fluids of six ovarian cancer patients and pleural effusion from eight breast cancer patients, respectively. In one case we obtained ascitic fluid as well as pleural effusion because of intraabdominal metastatic breast carcinoma. The collected cells were cultured in a complete medium and supplemented with human interleukin-2 (nIL-2) in a concentration of 1000 Units/ml. Phenotyping was not always possible due to rapid decay of the cells. Cytotoxicity was determined with a fluorescence-based assay, in some cases at different stages of cell growth. In two cases TAL from ascitic fluids showed increased cytotoxic activity after a longer cultivation period. TAL from pleural effusions showed cytotoxic activity against the target cell lines in two cases only. Some of these TAL did not proliferate any more but died within 24 h. With the functional analysis we wanted to investigate the cytotoxic potential against natural killer (NK)-sensitive and NK-resistant (Raji) cell lines. The results demonstrate the ability of some of the TAL populations to destroy tumor cells.