Effects of Hodgkin Cytotoxic Serum on Blast Transformation of Normal and Hodgkin Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes

The in vivo effect of a thymic factor (thymostimulin) on immunologic parameters of patients with untreated Hodgkin's disease

The in vivo effect of a calf thymus extract (thymostimulin, TS) on the E-rosetting capacity, PHA blastogenic response, serum migration inhibitory activity (LIF) and skin reactivity to recall antigens was evaluated in 19 untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease. In patients the mean percentage of peripheral blood lymphocytes forming E-rosettes increased from 47 to 55.7% (P less than or equal to 0.001; normal: 58.9). The mean PHA stimulation index rose with all three concentrations tested but did not reach normal values. Serum LIF was positive in only one patient prior to treatment with a mean LIF for all patients of 0.75 (P less than or equal to 0.005). Skin tests were positive in ten patients (52.6%) prior to therapy and 18 patients following therapy (94.7%; P less than or equal to 0.05). Thymostimulin, in vivo, appears to return immunologic competency to a population of untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease.

Interaction between serum factors and T lymphocytes in Hodgkin's disease. Use as a diagnostic test

We studied the mechanism of defective binding of sheep erythrocytes to the surface of peripheral blood T lymphocytes (E-rosette-formation) in Hodgkin's disease. The decreased percentage of E-rosette-forming cells (range, 21 to 77 per cent) in 25 patients with Hodgkin's disease was reversed and returned to normal range (52 to 78 per cent) by prior incubation of the T lymphocytes in tissue-culture medium with 20 per cent fetal-calf serum for 18 to 24 hours. The percentage of E-rosette-forming cells was suppressed by additional incubation with serum from patients with Hodgkin's disease (range, 20 to 61 per cent) but not with serum from patients with other neoplasms or from normal subjects (range, 52 to 74 per cent). Only target T lymphocytes from patients with Hodgkin's disease were suppressed by Hodgkin-disease serum. The findings suggest that there is a specific interaction between serum factors and the surface of peripheral blood T lymphocytes in Hodgkin's disease.