Distribution of T-lymphocytic subpopulations detected by monoclonal antibodies in peripheral blood of patients with chronic lymphatic leukaemia.

This paper reports on 93 patients with chronic lymphatic leukaemia (CLL) where CLL of B-type (E-, T-, B+, Ig+/-) was defined in 84 cases (90%), CLL of T-type (E+, T+, B-, Ig-) in 3 cases (3.2%) and in the remaining 6 cases (6.4%) neither T nor B were clearly detected. In 18 patients exhibiting lower total leukocyte count in peripheral blood T-lymphocytic population (OKT-3+), helper/inducer (OKT-4+) and suppressor/cytotoxic subpopulations (OKT-8+) were analysed using monoclonal antibodies in an indirect immunofluorescence test. The results show that the mean T-lymphocytic population counts in patients with CLL of B-type amounted to 1.7 X 10(9)/1 which is the value somewhat increased compared with the mean values observed in normal donors (1.5 X 10(9)/1). The counts of helper/inducer T-lymphocytic subpopulations (OKT-4+) were 1.7 X 10(9)/1 corresponding to those of healthy donors. In contrast, the counts of suppressor/cytotoxic T-lymphocytic subpopulations (OKT-8+) in patients with B-CLL were increased (0.7 X 10(9)/1). The immunoregulation index in patients with CLL decreased to 1.4 compared with that of a control 1.96).