[Lymphocytolysis caused by steroid hormones and antimitotic agents. Research performed at the School of Hematology in Ferrara].

Work done on steroid- and antimitotic-induced lymphocytolysis since the fifties by Baserga and his coworkers is reviewed. It has led to a morphological description of the stages involved in the lysis of circulating cells, and the estabilishment of the cytological and histological patterns of atrophy caused by such drugs, with particular reference to the thymus. A search is now being made for steroid-specific lymphocyte receptors. Reference is also made to Baserga's view that the damage caused by these drugs to lymph cells and lymphatic vessels is a particular feature of "aregenerative disease" within the wider framework of cell dysplasia caused by cytostatics.