In the present study, the author intended to clarify the action mechanism of inrerferons (α, β, γ) and their antineoplastic effects in vitro using flow cytometry (FCM). The present study also concerns evaluation of the influence on the cellular immunopotentiality of patients with use of interferons and their effects in actual clinical cases.
The action mechanism of interferons based on the cell c ycle was elucidated to be the S phase blocking, which fact was enforced by the concomitant measurement of the cell viability. A correlation between the positive cell rate and cell viability was, observed with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeling of interferons, a method designed and developed by the author. Interferon-αand-βshowed different antineoplastic effect from that of interferon-γ. Such difference might be due to the difference of the affinity between the interferons and tumor cells.
Using recently prevailed two-color analysis with FCM, the indirect antineoplastic effect of the interferons on the cellular immunopotentiality in brain tumor patients was evaluated.
The increases of Leu 3a+8- (helper T) and Leu 3a/2a ratio were observed, which fact indicated that decreased immunopotentiality of patients was significantly improved. The indirect antineoplastic effect of NK cell was significantly enforced by the concomitant use of interferons (α, β, γ), but there was no difference in the effects between the interferons.
Clinically, calcified and decreased mass was revealed on CT in two out of 13 patients, showing remarkable improvement with interferons.
The above results suggest th at sensitivity may be evaluated with the present method using FITC-labeled interferons, and excellent clinical results can be expected with use of interferons not only for initiation therapy but for maintenance therapy.
