Assessment of cell-mediated immunity to malignant mesothelioma by microcytotoxicity tests

Our plain-English summary of Assessment of cell-mediated immunity to malignant mesothelioma by microcytotoxicity tests, by M.J. Embleton, J.C. Wagner, M.M. Wagner, et al (International Journal of Cancer, 1976).

The study

• Authors: M.J. Embleton, J.C. Wagner, M.M. Wagner, J.S. Jones, G. Sheers, P.D. Oldham, R.W. Baldwin
• Journal: International Journal of Cancer
• Published: 1976;17(5):597-601
• Cited by: 9 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Cell cultures were established from pleural effusions of patients with pleural mesothelioma, and peripheral mononuclear effector cells were tested for cytotoxicity against these cells by means of microcytotoxicity assay. Effector cells were obtained from normal healthy donors and from persons exposed occupationally to asbestos, including apparently healthy persons, patients with benign pleural conditions and patients with malignant mesothelioma. The overall incidence of cytotoxicity was low, and there was no evidence of increased cytotoxicity in mesothelioma patients or other asbestos-exposed donors. It is concluded that little or no tumour-directed cell-mediated immunity is detectable against malignant mesothelioma by microcytotoxicity methods.

In plain English

This laboratory study asked whether immune cells from people exposed to asbestos would attack cultured mesothelioma cells. The authors grew cells from the fluid around the lungs (pleural effusions) of patients with pleural mesothelioma and mixed them with white blood cells (mononuclear cells) from blood donors. The first group was 29 donors exposed to asbestos at work in the Devonport shipyards. In that group, cells from three donors significantly reduced survival of the mesothelioma cells, but they affected all the cultures alike. Cells from none of the mesothelioma patients in that group did so. In a second series, cells from normal healthy donors reduced mesothelioma cell survival in 5 of 14 cases, and cells from mesothelioma patients did so in 7 of 21 tests. The effect was mostly low. Washing the blood cells extra times did not increase specific killing. The authors concluded that little or no cell-mediated immunity against malignant mesothelioma is detectable by these microcytotoxicity methods. The authors noted that the target cells' plating efficiency was usually low, although in most tests it was very reproducible between wells.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory (in vitro) study using a microcytotoxicity assay. Blood mononuclear cells from donors were tested against cultured mesothelioma cells taken from other patients (allogeneic cells).
• Who was studied: Target cells came from pleural effusions of patients with pleural mesothelioma, sent from several hospitals in England and Northern Ireland. Blood came from two series. The first was 29 donors occupationally exposed to asbestos in the Devonport shipyards: clinically normal people and people with asbestosis, pleural thickening, pleural plaques or mesothelioma, plus a control category with healed pulmonary tuberculosis. The second was 21 mesothelioma patients and 14 normal healthy controls.
• Exposure: Occupational asbestos exposure in the Devonport shipyards. The article does not name the fiber types.
• Main results:
  • In the Devonport series, 3 of the 29 asbestos-exposed donors had blood cells that significantly lowered mesothelioma cell survival compared with the rest. These were a patient with pleural thickening, a patient with asbestosis and a clinically normal donor.
  • Those three donors' cells affected all the cell cultures they were tested against, without discriminating between target cells.
  • In the Devonport series, cells from no mesothelioma patient reduced target cell survival compared with cells from the remaining donors.
  • One clinically normal Devonport donor developed mesothelioma about 1 year after testing, and the asbestosis patient in the same group was found to have bronchogenic carcinoma 2 months after testing. Cells from neither donor affected target cell survival.
  • In the second series, compared with wells containing medium only, cells from normal donors inhibited target cell survival in 5 of 14 cases. Cells from mesothelioma patients were inhibitory in 7 of 21 tests. The degree of inhibition was mostly low.
  • When the two donors in each test were compared directly with each other, mesothelioma patients' cells were cytotoxic in 4 of 21 tests and control donors' cells in 5 of 21. The authors found no difference between the groups.
  • In some wells, target cell survival increased with effector cells: with 2 of 14 normal donors and 5 of 21 mesothelioma patients.
  • Washing the effector cells six times instead of twice did not reveal increased specific cytotoxicity by mesothelioma patients' cells.
  • Among the Devonport shipyard donors, significant reactions were seen in only about 10% of donors.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that little or no cell-mediated immunity against malignant mesothelioma is detectable by microcytotoxicity methods.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The plating efficiency of the target cells was usually low, especially in the tests with the fourth group of donors. In most tests it was very reproducible between wells on the same plate.
  • Extra washing of the effector cells appeared to cause some damage. In 3 of 4 such tests, overall target cell survival was lower with cells washed six times.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Malignant Mesothelioma, Pleural Effusion, Pleural Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Immunological studies of patients with asbestosis. I. Studies of cell-mediated immunity — E. Kagan, A. Solomon, et al. (1977)
• Analysis of depressed cell-mediated immunity in asbestos workers — R.D. deShazo, J. Nordberg, et al. (1983)
• Identification of environmental carcinogens utilizing T-cell mediated immunity — R.H. Stevens, D.A. Cole, et al. (1986)
• Identification of carcinogens by measurement of cell-mediated immunity. III. Immunity to asbestos-induced rat peritoneal mesothelioma — D.A. Cole, R.H. Stevens, et al. (1982)
• The Effects of Asbestos Fibers on Human T Cells — N. Kumagai-Takei, S. Lee, et al. (2020)
• Ingredients such as trehalose and hesperidin taken as supplements or foods reverse alterations in human T cells, reducing asbestos exposure-induced antitumor immunity — S. Yamamoto, S. Lee, et al. (2021)

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