Effect of cisplatin on the oxidative metabolism of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in cancer patients.

ABSTRACT

Peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes of patients with ovarian or uterine-cervix carcinoma were studied during cisplatin chemotherapy for phagocytic oxidative metabolism. In particular, superoxide production by these leukocytes after stimulation with opsonized Zymosan particles was determined. The basal value of oxidative metabolism of leukocytes from neoplastic patients was lower than in normals. Superoxide production decreased after each dose administration, but returned to normal at the end of the entire chemotherapeutic treatment. It is suggested that cisplatin treatment, despite a short-lived depression of oxidative metabolism in polymorphonuclear cells, improves this function, most probably by interfering with neoplastic growth.