Mutual relationship between total and active T lymphocytes in patients with malignant tumors.

The values of B lymphocytes and of active and total T lymphocytes have been followed in 104 patients with malignant diseases and 35 controls of corresponding age, using the rosette tests with sheep erythrocytes. A statistical analysis of the changes of total and active T lymphocytes in three selected groups of the malignant disorder revealed the decline in total T lymphocytes to be parallel to that in active T lymphocytes. Therefore, a follow-up of the immunocompetence of oncological patients with the criterion determination of thymus-dependent lymphocyte population by the classical method of rosette formation was found to be equally informative in the three groups of patients studied here, as an evolution of active T lymphocytes in the active rosette test.