EFFECTS OF CORYNEBACTERIUM-PARVUM AND BCG THERAPY ON IMMUNE PARAMETERS IN PATIENTS WITH DISSEMINATED MELANOMA - SEQUENTIAL STUDY OVER 28 DAYS .2. CHANGES IN NONSPECIFIC (NK-CELL, K-CELL AND T-CELL) LYMPHOCYTOXICITY AND DELAYED-HYPERSENSITIVITY SKIN REACTIONS

Abstract

C. parvum [Propionibacterium acnes] and BCG produced significant changes in NK [natural killer], K [antibody-dependent killer] and T [thymus-derived] cell lymphocytoxicity using a [human] Chang liver target cell. A consistent temporal pattern over 28 days of early depression, recovery, overshoot and then decline was described. This was particularly marked for C. parvum and K cell activity. Skin test reactivity to recall antigens at 28 days was not appreciably different from the pre-immunization reactivity. The importance of using lymphocyte concentration-cytotoxicity titration curves and the linearization of such curves is discussed. An immunotherapy schedule with 3 weekly immunization intervals is proposed as the optimum schedule in patients receiving C. parvum at a dose of 2.0 mg/m2 i.v.