[Intracellular and extracellular acid mucopolysaccharides in human bronchus carcinoma and lung metastases - prognostic parameters?].

Local cellular and extracellular (acid mucopolysaccharide) reactions in human lung cancers and metastases - prognostic parameters? The role of immunologic reactions in human malignant tumors is still unsettled. In the work presented, 72 primary lung cancers and 17 pulmonary metastases of 8 different organs of origin were studied with histochemical techniques for cellular infiltrates (eosinophils and macrophages) and extracellular acid mucopolysaccharides (AMPS). The results showed a positive correlation between eosinophils and macrophages and a negative correlation between cellular reactions and the deposition of AMPS. The clinical course of radically operable patients with primary lung cancer 2 to 3 1/2 years after operation showed that patients with the reactive pattern "strong local eosinophilia, no AMPS deposition" had the best prognosis with 12 of 14 patients free of tumor. Of the patients with the same tumor stage, but lacking local eosinophilia, more than half died from the tumor or had generalized metastases within the same period. The most frequent pattern in patients with pulmonary metastases was "no local eosinophilia, strong AMPS reaction". These observations suggest that cellular reactions in radically operable primary lung cancer express immunologic responses. These are often absent in metastases.