Immune restoration with interleukin-2 in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Article Abstract:

The immune system in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck does not usually function at a normal level for a variety of reasons. Interleukin-2 (IL-2), a naturally-occurring protein derived from lymphocytes that increases the cellular response to antigen, has been used to restore normal immune function in other situations. Thus, the effect of IL-2 on lymphocytes from head and neck cancer patients and normal control subjects was studied. Blood samples were collected from 27 cancer patients (age range was 41 to 80 years; average was 62 years) and 13 control subjects (age range was 38 to 62 years; average was 46). Compared with normal subjects, the baseline lymphocyte proliferative response and natural killer cell functions were significantly lower in head and neck cancer patients. IL-2 increased the proliferative response by an average of 32 percent and increased the killer cell functions by almost 17 percent on average. This study suggests that the blood serum of head and neck cancer patients contains immunosuppressive factors that can be overcome by IL-2, so that IL-2 therapy for head and neck cancer patients may be an acceptable way to boost their immune systems. The effects of long-term IL-2 administration are unknown. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Health aspects, Drug therapy, Immune response, Interleukin-2, Immune response regulation, Head and neck cancer

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Clinical and pathologic prognostic variables in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Article Abstract:

Eighty-five patients suffering from cancer of the squamous, or flat, cells lining the upper throat were studied to assess the usefulness of certain data gathered by microscopic examination for predicting the patients' probabilities of survival. Overall, 58 percent of the patients survived 3 years, and 51 percent survived 5 years. Patients with cancer remaining within a single organ, even if the cancer was large and there were multiple lesions, had a better chance of survival than individuals with cancer that had invaded tissues surrounding the nerves and involved the lymph nodes. No other items of data gathered by microscopic examination were helpful for predicting survival rates. Thus the traditional system for categorizing different stages of development of this type of cancer may not be useful for predicting survival. Better estimates of survival can be obtained by evaluating the stage of cancer development as measured by direct observation of the degree of lymph node involvement, the extent to which the cancer has invaded tissues surrounding the nerves, and the nature of the cancer tumors in one or many locations.

Prognosis, Tumors, Throat cancer, Pharyngeal cancer

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Squamous cell carcinoma radioimmunoassay in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Article Abstract:

Antigens are substances produced by the body to trigger a specific disease-fighting immune response. Measuring the antigen level of squamous cell cancer of the cervix (the neck of the uterus) has shown promise as a means of detecting and monitoring the growth of such cancers. This suggests that measuring antigen levels may also be useful for monitoring squamous cell cancers elsewhere in the body. This was evaluated by measuring levels of the antigen in 103 patients with previously treated squamous cell cancers of the head or neck and 28 patients with known squamous cell cancers of the head and neck. Increased levels of antigen were found in 39 percent of patients with known tumors and in 19 percent of the patients who had such tumors surgically removed. The low sensitivity of the test limits its usefulness for predicting new and recurrent tumors.

Research

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