Abstract
It has been recognized that monocyte-macrophage lineages play an important role in host defense mechanism against neoplasia. This study was designed to compare the qualitative and quantitative function of tumor infiltrating and regional lymph node' macrophages with peripheral blood monocytes. For this purpose a rapid and reproducible system for macrophage phagocytosis assay using flow cytometry has been developed. With the progression of gastric cancer, the phagocytic activity of monocyte was significantly increased in stage 3 and stage 4 diseases, although the number of monocytes and serum levels of C3 and IgG values were within normal range. On the other hand, the number of macrophages in gastric lesions and regional lymph nodes increased gradually, and extensively in stage 3 disease, turned to decrease in stage 4 disease. Numbers of macrophages were increased in the order of gastric tumors, the first, and the second regional lymph nodes. However, there were no significant diferences in their phagocytic activities between macrophages located close to and apart from the tumors.
