[Passive transfer of tuberculin sensitivity (author's transl)].

Tuberculin sensitivity can be transfered passively by cells. The active principle may be bound on T-lymphocytes. In patients with sarcoidosis or with malignant lymphadenomas, the passive transfer of tuberculin sensitivity via lymphocytes of tuberculin-positive donors is more difficult. In sarcoidosis the achievement of a positive tuberculin reaction at an appreciable distance from the site of transfer was possible only with markedly greater amounts of donor lymphocytes than in healthy controls. In patients with malignant lymphadenomas such a transfer succeeded only very rarely. The qualitative and quantitative differences in the impairment of the delayed immune sensitivity in both groups and their possible causes are discussed.