[Emergenec of low-mobility lymphocytes in the tumor-bearing status and its immunological significance].

The immunological significance of the lymphocyte mobility histogram derived from a fully automated cell electrophoretic instrument (Parmoquant-L), was considered. In mouse lymphocytes, the ratio of medullary thymocytes increased as a result of a decrease in the proportion of cortical thymocytes, whereas the ratio of splenocytes in the low-mobility zone (0.85-0.95 micron/sec/V/cm) increased in the course of tumor growth or in vivo concanavalin A-treatment. In the peripheral lymphocytes of cancer patients, the decreased ratio of high-mobility T cells resulted in a gradual increase in that of low-mobility T cells, which were not seen in lymphocytes modified by the patient's serum. Although the formation of blastoid cells by stimulation of the tumor or mitogen cannot be completely denied, the low-mobility T cells of peripheral lymphoid tissues in the tumor-bearing status are considered to be caused by incomplete differentiation of the cells, in which immunosuppressor cells are involved. Pattern analysis of lymphocyte electrophoresis would be a simple method if fully automated instrumentation was used.