Cold agglutinins in a case of chronic lymphatic leukaemia. A study of the lymphocyte surface.

A case of chronic lymphatic leukaemia with cold agglutinins is presented in which peripheral blood lymphocytes of varying maturity appeared to possess T- and B-cell markers. A cold agglutinin IgM in type is identified in the serum and at the cell surface. This seems to be responsible for the spontaneous rosetting of sheep red blood cells (SRBC); A single clonal origin of these cells is suggested with maturation arrest. It is also suggested that with configurational change in lymphocyte surface cryoglobulins may sometimes produce spontaneous rosetting with SRBC.