Mucopolysaccharides in peripheral leucocytes of cancer patients.

The presence of mucopolysaccharides (MPS) in leucocytes of peripheral blood of 19 cancer patients, 13 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and 14 normal controls, was studied histochemically. MPS was revealed in different proportions in polynuclears and mononuclears. According to the staining technics, the MPS appear to be mainly carboxylated and contain hyaluronic acid and chondroitinsulphate groups.The quantitative analysis revealed that MPS appeared only in around 3% of leucocytes of normal controls, while in the cancer patients 56% of polynuclear and 90% of mononuclears contained it. In the tuberculous patients, 90% of polynuclears and 86% of the mononuclears revealed MPS. The differences between the prevalence of leucocytes containing MPS in controls and in cancer or tuberculous patients are highly significant.The possibility that the difference in MPS content of leucocytes is related with low inmunological activity is postulated.