Lymphoid cell-glioma cell interaction enhances cell coat production by human gliomas: novel suppressor mechanism.

Certain human glioma lines produce mucopolysaccharide coats that impair the generation of cytolytic lymphocytes in response to these lines in vitro. Coat production is substantially enhanced by the interaction of glioma cells with a macromolecular factor released by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in culture. This interaction thus constitutes an unusual mechanism by which inflammatory cells may nonspecifically suppress the cellular immune response to at least one class of solid tumors in humans.