18 patients with
osteogenic sarcoma were followed by serial measurements in vitro of
tumor-specific cell-mediated cytotoxicity and of "active" and total rosette-forming T-cells. 13 of these patients have had or are currently receiving
injections of
osteogenic sarcoma-specific dialyzable
transfer factor derived from healthy donors. In three patients with very small lesions, cytotoxicity was high before
amputation and decreased within 2 mo after removal of
tumor. Cytotoxicity was low at time of diagnosis in all patients with large
tumor masses. The cytotoxicity of the patients' lymphocytes increased after administration of
tumor-specific
transfer factor in all patients so treated. Patients receiving nonspecific
transfer factor showed evidence of declining cell-mediated cytotoxicity.
Tumor-specific
transfer factor may produce an increase in cell-mediated cytotoxicity to the
tumor in patients with
osteogenic sarcoma. This possibility is suggested by the
pain and
edema that occurred in the area of the
tumor in patients who had metastatic disease when
therapy was started and by lymphocytic infiltrates in the
tumor, as well as by the increase in cell-mediated cytotoxicity and the increase in percentage of active rosette-forming cells from subnormal to normal. Serial measurements of cell-mediated cytotoxicity are helpful in monitoring the efficacy of
transfer factor and other modes of
therapy in these patients, and these measurements are the best available criteria for selection of donors of
tumor-specific
transfer factor.