Granulocyte and platelet adhesiveness in malignant paraproteinaemia, leukaemia and myeloproliferative diseases.

Granulocyte and platelet adhesiveness were measured in 36 patients with haematologic diseases, using a glass bead column assay. Platelet adhesiveness (PA) was reduced in malignant paraproteinaemia (l3/20), leukaemia (10/11) and myeloproliferative diseases (3/5). Granulocyte adhesiveness (GA) was reduced in most patients with paraproteinaemia and leukaemia, but results of measurements in whole blood and in suspensions of leucocytes in autologous plasma were poorly correlated due to the influence of abnormal platelet function and/or concentration on the measurement of GA in whole blood. The results of experiments combining leucocytes and plasma from patients and controls indicate that impaired GA in paraproteinaemia is due to a plasma factor, whereas a cellular defect is responsible for the reduced GA in leukaemia.