Delayed Hypersensitivity in Cancer Patients: Cutaneous and In Vitro Lymphocyte Response to Specific Antigens2

Abstract

Delayed hypersensitivity, as measured by intracutaneous testing and lymphocyte culture, was evaluated in 16 patients with early cancer and in matched controls. There was no statistically significant difference in the cutaneous response to a battery of 5 antigens, nor was anergy found in any patient. The mean response of lymphocytes in culture to these same antigens tended to be lower in cancer patients than in controls. Only when the response to all 5 antigens was compared did this difference reach significant levels. Normal lymphocytes cultured in plasma from the cancer patients did not show impaired response.