Flow cytometric analysis of changes in lymphocyte subsets in the blood of cancer patients during radiation therapy, 8

In this study, we report a clinical application of a rapid flow-cytometric immunofluorescence method for studying OKT10+-lymphocytes in whole blood by using monoclonal antibody OKT10. Changes in the relative percentages and absolute counts of OKT10+-lymphocytes during radiotherapy of cancer patients were evaluated by this method. In a study of 151 samples from 58 cases, the elevation of OKT10+-lymphocyte level (>=30%) was observed in 20 samples from 14 patients. Seventeen of these 20 samples were from patients during radiotherapy or after radiotherapy, so the elevation of OKT10+-lymphocyte level was seemed to be brought by radiotherapy. But, it was irrelevant to clinical response to radiotherapy. The relative percentage of OKT10+-lymphocytes was remarkably increased during radiotherapy, but absolute counts of OKT10+-lymphocytes were gradually decreased. The relative percentage of OKT10+-lymphocytes was not correlated with that of OKT9+-lymphocytes. Also absolute counts of OKT10+-lymphocytes were not correlated with that of peripheral lymphocytes. (author)