[Age and immunity. I. Lymphocyte populations in the peripheral blood in various age groups (author's transl)]

Effect of a bacterial extract on cellular and humoral immune responses in humans

A lyophilized extract from E. coli (OM-89) was studied for its immunomodulating properties and tolerance in humans. Its oral administration to healthy volunteers produced a selective increase in the active T-cell population without changes in other lymphocyte populations. A significant increase in the proliferative response to concanavalin A and phytohemagglutin was recorded, but not to pokeweed mitogen. No significant changes were observed in the serum levels of IgG, IgA and IgM. The clinical and biological tolerance of OM-89 was excellent, without any adverse side-effects or production of circulating immune complexes or of autoantibodies, while the in vitro investigation showed that it is not a mitogen. Thus in healthy subjects OM-89 seems to act mainly on the cell-mediated immune responses.

Peripheral lymphocyte and eosinophil counts as indicators of prognosis in primary breast cancer

As a part of a major study on the pathophysiologic indices for recurrence of human breast cancer, preoperative eosinophil and lymphocyte counts were determined on 419 and 581 primary breast cancer patients, respectively. Patients with lymphocyte counts less than or equal to 1500/mm3 and/or eosinophil counts of less than 55/mm3 had significantly higher risk of recurrent disease than those patients who had normal or high levels of eosinophils and/or lymphocytes. These findings may indicate that the immunologic activities of eosinophils and lymphocytes enhance the patients' ability to respond against disease.

T- and B-cell responses in patients with malignant pleural effusions

Lymphocytes of lymphocyte-rich pleural effusions and venous blood from 16 cancer patients, 7 patients with benign pleural effusions and blood from 23 normal blood donors, were examined for cytological features, rosette-forming capacity, immunofluorescent staining, and PHA-stimulated DNA synthesis. Total protein and immunoglobulin levels were also determined. Metastatic effusions revealed approximately 40% higher content of immunoglobulins G, A and M (P less than 0.002) as well as of total protein (P less than 0.005) than non-metastatic pleural effusions. However, the serum of the non-cancer patients contained approximately 50% higher level of Ig than in cancer patients (P less than 0.001). Whilst there was no significant difference in the relative T- or B-cell contents of pleural effusions between cancer and non-cancer patients (P greater than 0.05) spontaneous proliferation of lymphocytes was significantly increased (P greater than 0.01), which led to a lower PHA-stimulated transformation index in pleural effusions from cancer patients than in all other lymphocyte sources examined (P less than 0.001).

[Age and immunity: III. Circulating immune complexes in different age groups (author's transl)]

Circulating immune complexes were determined utilizing an immunofluorescence technique in sera of 271 healthy donors in different age groups. Practically no immune complexes were detected up to the age of 60. Among the donors ranging in age between 60 and 70 years, 20% revealed immune complexes in their sera. The incidence of circulating immune complexes increased up to 33% among the individuals between 70 and 75 years of age and up to 40% among those over 76 years. In view of earlier findings of decreased numerical and functional capacities of peripheral blood lymphocytes and functional capacities of peripheral blood lymphocytes and increased incidence of auto-antibodies, the observation, that the incidence of circulating immune complexes increases with age seems to support the hypothesis of an age-dependent immunological impairment. To what extent such an immunological insufficiency plays a role in the general aging process remains unknown. It can, however, explain some of the auto-immune diseases seen frequently among the elderly population.