T and B lymphocytes in lymph nodes and spleen of patients with Hodgkin's disease.

Lymphocyte surface markers of 100 tissue specimens (67 lymph nodes and 33 spleens) of 40 patients with Hodgkin's disease were studied by means of spontaneous E-rosette formation and direct immunofluorescence method. The occurrence of active and total T cells was signigicantly higher (p less than 0.001) in the tumor-involved lymph nodes and spleens, while the frequency of B cells was practically the same in the histologically negative lymph nodes and spleens. In the tumorous spleen of 6 untreated patients the frequency of active and total T cells was higher in the tumorous tissue specimens than in the surrounding histologically negative tissue specimens. No correlation has been found between the simultaneously investigated peripheral T and B cell counts, clinical stage and the histological type of the tumor.