Summary
Glutamate was recently found to inhibit the membrane transport of cystine and to impair the function of macrophages and lymphocytes in vitro. Elevated plasma glutamate concentrations in patients with advanced carcinoma were also found to be quantitatively correlated with reduced lymphocyte reactivity in these persons. We now investigated the questions whether glutamate levels in tumor patients would decline to approximately normal levels after tumor resection and, if so, whether this would be correlated with a recovery of lymphocyte reactivity. We report that plasma glutamate levels as well as the concomitantly elevated plasma lactate levels of patients with colorectal carcinoma return to practically normal levels within 1 week after curative surgery. This is accompanied by a rapid recovery of the lymphocyte reactivity against concanavalin A. Lymphocyte responses against pokeweed mitogen and phytohemagglutinin, in contrast, remain impaired for at least 6 months, indicating that elevated glutamate levels in patients with colorectal carcinoma are associated with a long-lasting defect in the immune system.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- ConA:
-
concanavalinA
- PHA:
-
phytohemagglutinin
- PWM:
-
pokeweed mitogen
References
Blue M-L, Daley JF, Levine H, Schlossman SF (1985) Coexpression of T4 and T8 on peripheral blood T cells demonstrated by two-color fluorescence flow cytometry. J Immunol 134:2281–2286
Chawla RK, Lewis FW, Kutner MH, Bate DM, Roy RGB, Rudman D (1984) Plasma cysteine, cystine and glutathione in cirrhosis. Gastroenterology 87:770–776
Dröge W, Eck H-P, Betzier M, Schlag P, Drings P, Ebert W (1988) Plasma glutamate concentration and lymphocyte activity. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 114:124–128
Eck H-P, Dröge W (1989) Influence of the extracellular glutamate concentration on the intracellular cyst(e)ine concentration in macrophages and on the capacity to release cysteine. Biol Chem Hoppe-Seyler 370:109–113
Eck H-P, Gmünder H, Hartmann M, Petzoldt D, Daniel V, Dröge W (1989a) Low concentrations of acid-soluble thiol (cysteine) in the blood plasma of HIV-1 infected patients. Biol Chem Hoppe-Seyler 370:101–108
Eck H-P, Drings P, Dröge W (1989b) Plasma glutamate levels, lymphocyte reactivity and death rate in patients with bronchial carcinoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 115:571–574
Gmünder H, Eck H-P, Benninghoff B, Roth S, Dröge W (1990) Macrophages regulate intracellular glutathione levels of lymphocytes. Evidence for an immunoregulatory role of cysteine. Cell Immunol 128 (in press)
Leroux M, Schindler L, Braun R, Doerr HW, Geisen HW, Kirchner H (1985) A whole-blood lymphoproliferation assay for measuring cellular immunity against herpes viruses. J Immunol Methods 79:251–262
Puck JM, Rich RR (1984) Regulatory interactions govering the proliferation of T cell subsets stimulated with pokeweed mitogen. J Immunol 132:1106–1112
Saetre R, Rabenstein DL (1978) Determination of cysteine in plasma and urine and homocysteine in plasma by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Anal Biochem 90:684–692
Serke S, Serke M, Brudler O (1987) Lymphocyte activation by phytohaemagglutinin and pokeweed mitogen. Identification of proliferating cells by monoclonal antibodies. J Immunol Methods 99:167–172
Watanabe H, Bannai S (1987) Induction of cystine transport activity in mouse peritoneal macrophages. J Exp Med 165:628–640
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eck, H.P., Betzler, M., Schlag, P. et al. Partial recovery of lymphocyte activity in patients with colorectal carcinoma after curative surgical treatment and return of plasma glutamate concentrations to normal levels. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 116, 648–650 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01637088
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01637088