Depressed lymphocyte-mediated killing of sensitized targets in cancer patients.

Lymphocytes from 44 patients with various types of tumors were tested for their ability to kill antibody-coated targets (lymphocyte fixation). Lymphocytes from cancer patients, overall, showed significantly less killing than the lymphocytes from normal subjects, multiparous women, and patients with nonmalignant diseases. The lower killing did not correlate with age or stage of the disease. The ability to kill antibody-coated targets did not correlate with the presence or absence of complement-dependent HL-A antibodies in multiparous women and multitransfused pa tients. The subpopulation of lymphocytes responsible for the killing of antibody-coated targets is apparently deficient in cancer patients.