DNA synthesis in unstimulated blood lymphocytes of patients with untreated malignant lymphomas or other malignant tumors.

Blood lymphocyte DNA synthesis, as expressed by 24-h uptake of 3H-thymidine in culture of mononuclear peripheral blood leucocytes has been reduced prior to treatment in 18 patients with Hodgkin's disease, 11 with non-leukaemic lymphosarcoma, 13 with reticulosarcoma and 20 with various solid tumors, and compared to 37 normal control subjects.The 3H-thymidine uptake was significantly increased in all the patient groups, but no significant difference existed between them. Increased uptake of 3H-thymidine did not appear to correlate with the degree of dissemination in any of the patient groups or with the presence or absence of general symptoms in malignant lymphoma. It is concluded that increased DNA synthesis in peripheral blood lymphocytes is a feature not limited to Hodgkin's disease, but found in non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphomas and other malignancies to about the same extent.