RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CYTO-TOXICITY AND PROGNOSTICALLY SIGNIFICANT HISTOLOGIC-CHANGES IN LYMPH-NODES FROM PATIENTS WITH CANCER OF THE BREAST

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  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 98  (2) , 325-338
Abstract
Axillary lymph nodes obtained from 37 patients with breast cancer were used in a microcytotoxicity assay against a human mammary cancer cell line, ALAB. Cell suspensions made from 60 individual lymph nodes and 51 lymph node pools were tested. Each lymph node was graded for the extent of the histologic changes of sinus histiocytosis (SH), paracortical hyperplasia (PCH) and germinal center hyperplasia (GCH). High levels of cytotoxicity correlated significantly with the presence of SH and PCH. When multiple lymph nodes of individual patients were pooled and tested, a high intensity of GCH correlated with a low degree of cytotoxicity. The cytotoxic activity of pooled lymph nodes from different axillary regions was studied in 20 patients. In 7 of these patients, low axillary lymph node cells were more cytotoxic than high axillary node cells. The reverse was found for 7 patients, and there was no difference in cytotoxicity between axillary regions in 6. Cytotoxic lymph node pools had high SH and low GCH whether they were obtained from the low or high region. Noncytotoxic lymph node pools from the high axillary region had a low intensity of all 3 histologic reactions. In contrast noncytotoxic lymph node pools from the low axillary regions had high intensities of SH, PCH and GCH. Germinal center hyperplasia in the lymph nodes nearest an advancing tumor is apparently associated with a local suppression of cytotoxic cell activity.