Hodgkin's disease: in vitro susceptibility of skin fibroblasts to infection with virus and to lysis by autologous lymphocytes.

Fibroblast cultures established from the skin of 16 untreated stage 1 and stage 2 Hodgkin's patients (HD) and 60 healthy controls were studied in their 3rd, 4th and 5th in vitro passage. HD cultures were similar to control cultures with respect to transformation with Simian sarcoma virus (SSV) and SV40 and with respect to interferon release. HD cultures, however, showed a depressed replication of both herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 and type 2. Preliminary evidence for enhanced immune interaction with fibroblasts in HD was a more frequent injury of HD than control fibroblast cultures when incubated 4 hours with autologous mononuclear leucocytes in the presence of autologous serum.