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.