Characterization of multiple immune defects in human malignant lymphoma.

Sixty-three patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) were studied to analyze the mechanisms responsible for impaired in vitro lymphocyte reactivities to the mitogen concanavalin A. Lymphocytes from 43 of the 52 untreated patients acquired enhanced in vitro responsiveness after preculturing in media alone for 3 days. However, 38 of the untreated patients failed to achieve entirely normal lymphocyte responses after preculturing . Suppressor cells were detected in 25 patients, but the intensity of suppression was much less than expected when compared with the severity of in vitro impairments. Suppressor activity did correlate with certain clinical characteristics in NHL, whereas no correlation was observed for HD. In contrast to the untreated patients, successfully treated patients demonstrated either normal responses or profound, irreversible impairments. The data indicate that several mechanisms which usually coexist can contribute to the impaired in vitro lymphocyte responses in untreated HD and NHL, and that a single, irreversible type of mechanism explains the impaired reactivities in successfully treated patients.