Immunocompetence and Response to Antitumor Treatment

The observations reported in the Journal by Hersh et al. 1 parallel investigation conducted in our laboratory. 234 Our study, however, has concentrated on the assessment of immune function in patients with solid tumors before, after and during short, intensive courses of chemotherapy. We have treated a total of 18 patients with five-day courses of combination chemotherapy as originally described by Costanzi and Coltman. 5 In vitro lymphocyte function as assayed by responsiveness to phytohemagglutinin. streptolysin O, streptokinase-streptodornase and the mixed lymphocyte reaction was measured before treatment, on the third day of treatment and on the third and ninth days.