Influence of adjuvant chemotherapy on the blood lymphocyte population in operable breast carcinoma. Comparison between two types of treatments

Abstract

The influence on the blood lymphocyte population of two types of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy regimes given to patients with large breast tumors or involved axillary lymph nodes have been examined. Cyclic treatment with a combination of chlorambucil, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil was more myelotoxic and required more extensive dose reductions than treatment with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil with the dosage used. Both treatments reduced the size of the blood lymphocyte population and changed its cellular composition, as defined by rosette tests, to approximately the same extent. Response of the lymphocytes to specific and non-specific mitogens were also affected to approximately the same extent. A comparison of the clinical value between the two treatments has not yet been performed.