Classification of malignant lymphomas by means of membrane markers.

In the majority of patients with lympho- and reticulum cell sarcomas, high numbers of B-lymphocytes were found in affected lymph nodes, but were rarely observed in the peripheral blood. In chronic lymphocytic leukaemia receptor properties of B-lymphocytes were defective in several aspects. In patients with Hodgkin's disease the relative number of both lymphocyte populations in the blood were within the normal range and in lymph node suspensions marked alterations were unusual. A preferential proliferation of T-lymphocytes, perhaps accompanied by a reduced life span, was however suggested by double labelling experiments.