Adjuvant Radiation Therapy Compared with Cyclic Chemotherapy in Patients with Mammary Carcinoma: I. Changes of blood lymphocyte subpopulations

Peripheral lymphocyte subpopulations were examined in 37 women with breast carcinoma who were postoperatively randomized to adjuvant local radiation therapy or cyclic treatment with 5-Fluorouracil, Methotrexate and Chlorambucil. Both T and non-T lymphocyte counts were reduced but the latter subpopulation was reduced to the highest relative extent in both groups of patients. Following radiation therapy the non-T cells repopulated more rapidly than the T cells, whereas the repopulation seemed to be the reverse in patients treated with chemotherapy.