Immunoregulatory leucocyte subset typing and PHA response in relation to the nutritional state in cancer patients with gastrointestinal neoplasia.

Cancer patients are frequently immunodepressed and this could be related to undernutrition, particularly in gastrointestinal (GI) neoplasia. We therefore looked for correlations between different leucocyte subsets' (T11+, T4+, T8+, B1+, and Mo2+) cells in the peripheral blood of these patients and their nutritional state. Significant alterations were found in absolute number/ml of T11+, T4+, B1+, and Mo2+ cells. Malnourished cancer patients were more affected than those appearing well-nourished, exhibiting a decrease of 50% in the number of T11+, T4+, and B1+ cells as compared with healthy controls. The phytohemagglutinin A (PHA) stimulation index (SI) was also significantly decreased in the malnourished group. Linear regression analysis between SI and these leucocyte subsets revealed that only the T4+ cells offered a significant correlation (r = 0.6169 p less than 0.01). These results suggest that the absolute number/ml of T4+ cells reflects the nutritional state of patients bearing GI tumors.