INFLUENCE OF ANTICANCER CHEMOTHERAPY ON FUNCTION OF MONOCYTES IN PATIENTS WITH LUNG-CANCER

Background - Monocytes play an essential role in host defense mechanisms such as those against microbial infection and the immune response. The purpose of the present study was to clarify whether anti-cancer chemotherapy influences monocyte function Methods - Mononuclear cells (MNC) were obtained from 14 lung cancer patients who had received anti-cancer chemotherapy. Superoxide anion (O2-) production by phorbol myristate (PMA)-activated MNC was measured by the rate of reduction of ferricytochrome C. Determination of Interleukin-1 (IL-1) activity in the supernatant of MNC cultured in medium containing PMA for 24h was performed by a A375-S1 growth inhibition assay. The amount of IL-1 was also measured by an enzyme immunoassay. As only monocytes in MNC produced O2- and IL-1, the amounts of O2- and IL-1 generated by the monocytes were calculated from the proportion of monocytes in MNC. Results - The amount of O2- generated by the monocytes of patients before chemotherapy was 7.54 +/- 1.97 nmol/min/2 x 10(6) cells (mean +/- SE). The value decreased gradually and reached a nadir of 3.01 +/- 0.66 2 weeks after chemotherapy. As with O2- generating activity, the monocytes obtained 2 weeks after chemotherapy produced only 40 % of the amount of IL-1 generated by the cells before chemotherapy. Conclusions - Anti-cancer chemotherapy influences monocyte function in terms Of 02- and IL-1 generating activity.