Mitogen induced blood lymphocyte DNA synthesis as a prognostic indicator in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in clinical remission.

Monocyte depleted blood lymphocytes were analyzed in 28 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in early unmaintained complete clinical remission, in 8 long-term complete remission patients, and in 31 age-matched healthy controls, by SRBC rosetting and DNA synthesis induced by concanavalin A, pokeweed mitogen and PPD antigen. The median observation time from testing was 22 months (range 10-49 months). Early complete remission patients with a normal mitogen induced lymphocyte stimulation remained free of relapses. In contrast, patients who relapsed during the observation period had lymphocytopenia (p less than 0.05), reduced lymphocyte responses to mitogen (p less than 0.001) and to PPD antigen (p less than 0.05) as compared with healthy controls. Long-term complete remission patients did not differ from healthy controls with respect to lymphocyte counts and response to mitogen stimulation.