EFFECT OF ESTROGEN ON TUMOR-ASSOCIATED IMMUNITY IN PATIENTS WITH ADENOCARCINOMA OF PROSTATE

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 38  (11) , 3702-3706
Abstract
Tumor-associated antigen-induced leukocyte adherence inhibition was used as an in vitro criterion for evaluating the effect of estrogen on cell-mediated antitumor-associated immunity in patients with adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Significant (P < 0.05) suppression from the reactivity obtained with untreated patients'' leukocytes to allogeneic extracts of malignant prostatic tissue ranging from 19-80% was observed in all patients following preincubation of their leukocytes with diethylstilbesterol diphosphate. The observed suppression of tumor-associated immunity in the presence of exogenous estrogen provides further evidence to earlier studies that demonstrated estrogenic suppression of nonspecific cellular responsiveness as evaluated by phytohemagglutinin-induced lymphocytic blastogenesis of normal and prostatic cancer patients'' lymphocytes and for the initially suggested concern over the efficacy of estrogenic therapy and its adverse effect on host cell-mediated immunological responsiveness.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: