MLC stimulatory capacity and production of blastogenic factor in patients with chronic lymphatic leukemia and Hodgkin's disease.

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the stimulatory capacity of chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL) and Hodgkin's disease (HD) lymphocytes in the one-way mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) and to investigate whether, in patients with these diseases, a correlation exists between the degree of stimulatory capacity and production of a blastogenic factor. These studies might help to resolve the controversy about the nature of the stimulating cells and to offer some insight into the mechanism of the stimulation in the MLR. The significant observations from this study are summarized as follows: (1) Stimulatory capacity of CLL lymphocytes was intact or increased, while their responding capacity was markedly depressed. (2) In our group of patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease, both stimulating and responding capacities were imparied. (3) In these patients a correlation existed between the degree of stimulatory capacity and production of a blastogenic factor. This observation would raise the possibility that the production of a blostogenic factor may in some way be involved in the stimulation of responding lymphocytes in mixed cultures. Our results, which show a dichotomy between MLC stimulatory and responding capacities of CLL lymphocyte, may suggest that different factors are involved in stimulation and response.