Adjuvant Radiation Therapy Compared with Cyclic Chemotherapy in Patients with Mammary Carcinoma II. Changes of mitogen responses of blood lymphocytes

Blood lymphocyte reactivity to purified protein derivative of tuberculin (PPD) and phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) was examined in 62 patients with breast carcinoma who received postoperative adjuvant radiation therapy or cyclic chemotherapy with chlorambucil, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil. Both treatments impaired the immunologic reactivity of blood lymphocytes as measured by PPD and PHA stimulation in vitro. Radiation therapy seemed to cause more profound and protracted suppression of the PPD response than chemotherapy.