Expression and specificity of FcIgG receptor sites on neoplastic lymphocytes.

We investigated the ability of an FcIgG receptor marker to discriminate between subtypes of malignant lymphoproliferative diseases that differed in their clinical presentations. A quantitative radioimmuno assay was established that enabled us to evaluate average receptor densities on a population basis. Surface receptors were first saturated with IgG complexes. The number of membrane associated IgG molecules was subsequently determined with 125I-staphylococcal protein A. Results obtained with this assay on a battery of malignant lymphocytes suggested that the range of receptor densities of malignant B and T cells might overlap each other but would correlate with the degree of tumor cell differentiation and the clinical stage of the underlying disease. This behavior limits the use of this marker in the characterization of the derivation of malignant lymphocytes; these findings, however, may be useful in the prognostic classification of lymphomas of known origin.