Cytological and functional analysis of inflammatory infiltrates in human malignant tumors I. Composition of the inflammatory infiltrates

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Abstract
Ten individual human tumors displaying an unusually strong inflammatory reaction were disaggregated with a mixture of collagenase and deoxyribonuclease. The dispersed cellular materials consisted of approximately equal numbers of cancer cells, nonmalignant parenchymal cells and inflammatory leukocytes. As the erythrocyte/leukocyte ratio in the dispersed material was only 2:1, as compared to 290:1 in the blood, any notable blood contamination was excluded. The differential counts and the subclass distribution of the infiltrating lymphocytes were established directly from the initial dispersed material without any prior purification of the infiltrating cells. Three distinct types of inflammatory infiltrates were recorded which correlated to some extent with the cancer type and the tumor localization in the body. In three cases of thyroid papillary carcinoma and one case of mammary carcinoma, the infiltrate consisted of approximately equal proportions of lymphocytes, monocytes and macrophages. Most of the lymphocytes in these lesions were sheep red blood cell (SRBC) nonrosetteforming, surface Ig‐negative “null” lymphocytes. In three cases of testicular seminoma, the infiltrate was predominantly lymphocytic, though also plasma cells and plasmablasts were present in substantial numbers. In this tumor, nearly all infiltrating lymphocytes were SRBC‐ and α‐naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE)‐positive T lymphocytes. Finally, in two cases of ovarial papillary carcinoma and one case of uterine carcinosarcoma, the infiltrate consisted of approximately equal proportions of plasma cells plus lymphocytes, tissue macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Equal numbers of T, B and null lymphocytes were present in the infiltrating lymphocyte population. Seventy‐four to 100% of the infiltrating macrophages, when present, expressed the Fc receptor for IgG, and half of the infiltrating monocytes carried this surface marker. The results thus demonstrate that the composition of the inflammatory infiltrate in different human cancers is highly variable, probably reflecting the type of tumor, its localization in the body, the stage of tumor growth and possibly the type of immune response.