Interferon-gamma and interleukin-10 production by mononuclear cells from patients with advanced head and neck cancer

objective: this study aims to evaluate the production of interferon-gamma and interleukin-10 by stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from patients with supraglottic laryngeal cancer before and after surgical treatment. methods: fourteen patients with advanced supraglottic laryngeal cancer were studied. cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated during the preoperative and late postoperative periods were stimulated with concanavalin a and bacille calmette-guerin, and the supernatant concentrations of interferon-gamma and interleukin-10 were measured. results: for non-stimulated cultures, the interferon-gamma levels produced by the preoperative period and the late postoperative period cultures were lower than the levels produced by the control group cultures. the interferon-gamma levels after stimulation with concanavalin a were higher in the late postoperative period cultures than in the preoperative evaluation cultures. stimulation with bacille calmette-guerin led to the production of similar levels of interferon-gamma and interleukin-10 by all cultures; thus, stimulation increased the levels of interferon-gamma produced by both the preoperative and postoperative cultures relative to the levels produced by the corresponding unstimulated cultures. conclusion: patients with advanced supraglottic laryngeal cancer exhibit an in vitro deficiency in interferongamma secretion by mononuclear cells. stimulated cells seem to recover this function during the postoperative period.