Receptors for peanut agglutinin on a high percentage of human cord-blood lymphocytes: phenotype characterization of peanut-positive cells.

The results of this study show that a high percentage of human cord-blood lymphocytes bears receptors for peanut agglutinin. Determination of the presence of other lymphocyte markers (E rosettes, membrane immunoglobulins, alpha-naphthyl-acetate esterase, Ia antigens) in the peanut-positive cells indicated that they include both T and B cells. The peanut receptor, also expressed by blast cells of most acute, but not chronic, leukemias, seems to be a marker of immaturity for both T- and B-lymphocyte subsets in man as it is in the mouse.