1. ¹Inmunología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
2. ²Servicio de Cirugía General y Aparato Digestivo, Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

Correspondence: Professor JM Martín-Villa, Inmunología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Pabellón 5, 4a planta, Madrid 28040, Spain. E-mail: autoinmunidad@med.ucm.es

³Both qualify as senior authors.

Received 21 June 2007; Revised 27 November 2007; Accepted 29 November 2007; Published online 19 February 2008.

Abstract

To dissect the phenotypic and functional features of mucosal T lymphocytes in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma, we have used the Herpesvirus saimiri transformation procedure to achieve T-cell lines from gastric origin. Once achieved, cell function was assessed by in vitro stimulation with mitogens. CD2-specific monoclonal antibodies (-CD2), alone or in combination with interleukin (IL)-2, rendered fewer counts in patients (34 4083965 and 52 1576473 c.p.m., respectively) than in controls (67 47111 755 c.p.m., P<0.01 and 77 86412 545 c.p.m., P<0.05, respectively). Likewise, CD3-based responses were defective in cancer cell lines: -CD3 (54 7949269 vs 86 10410 341 c.p.m., P<0.01), -CD3+IL-2 (57 7898590 vs 888558516 c.p.m., P<0.01) and -CD3+-CD2 (52 1307559 vs 120 85216 552 c.p.m., P<0.01). Finally, IL-2 failed to adequately stimulate patient cell lines (39 3104023 vs 60 9459463 c.p.m., P<0.05). These results suggest that mucosal T lymphocytes in cancer patients are inherently impaired in their proliferative ability. This may be crucial in the control of tumour growth.