Immune Reactivity in Renal Cancer: A Sequential Study

Abstract
Eighteen patients with adenocarcinoma of the kidney were evaluated immunologically in a linear fashion. Delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity was significantly altered in patients with metastatic disease. In vitro studies showed a progressive decline in the absolute number of circulating lymphocytes and the T [thymus-derived] cell subpopulations that parallels the advance of the malignant process. Evaluation of lymphocyte function by the response to mitogens appears to be of little significance in a sequential study.