B Lymphocytes in untreated patients with malignant lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease

patients with malignant lymphoma and Hodgkin's dis-ease were studied. B cells in the peripheral blood were investigated with respect to surface immunoglobulins and in a few patients with respect to intracytoplasmic immunoglobulins by means of immunofluorescence. T cell function was studied by direct phytohemagglutinin (PHA) microtest (from the same sample of whole blood), mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC), and by delayed hypersensitivity to various antigens. In the 13 patients with Hodgkin's disease the histologic sub-type was nodular sclerosis in nine, lymphocyte pre-dominant in two, mixed cellularity in two. Only one of these patients had disseminated disease (stage IV); he showed impaired cellular immunity, a very low percentage of B cells and low levels of serum im-munoglobulins. Of the remaining patients with Hodg-kin's disease, with one exception, normal percentages but rather low absolute numbers of B lymphocytes per mm3 of blood were found. One patient with a low per-cent and low absolute number of B lymphocytes showed very high serum IgG. Of 24 patients with non-Hodg-kin's malignant lymphoma, seven (29%) showed mono-clonal B cell proliferation in the peripheral blood (five 1AK, two 'yK). By morphologic criteria, 14 patients had involvement of bone marrow, five of these had involve-ment of peripheral blood. Four of the latter five patients showed marked increases in percentages and absolute numbers of B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood reflect-ing the monoclonal proliferation. In three additional pa-tients monoclonal proliferation of lymphocytes was found by immunofluorescence although the blood smears ap