Behaviour of lymphocyte subsets in response to immunotherapy with Propionibacterium avidum KP-40 in cancer patients.
In 15 patients the influence of unspecific immunostimulation/immunomodulation was studied. Patients constituting the therapeutical group suffered from colorectal- and gastric carcinoma, respectively, and were preoperatively treated with 10 mg whole cell preparation of immunomodulating Propionibacterium avidum KP-40. This adjuvant immunotherapy resulted in a significant increase (p less than 0.01) of the natural killer (NK)-cell population, however, total leukocyte and lymphocyte count as well as helper- and suppressor T-lymphocyte subsets did not significantly differ form control values.