Concanavalin A receptors on the surface membrane of lymphocytes from patients with Burkitt's lymphoma, other malignant lymphomas, leukaemia and lymphoma cell lines.

Lymphocytes isolated from the peripheral blood and tumour tissues of patients with African Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) showed a reduced cap-forming ability and increased agglutinability by concanavalin A (con A) compared to normal lymphocytes. Lymphocytes from the blood of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, Hodgkin's disease and other malignant lymphomas showed a similar reduction in cap formation and increase in agglutination compared to normal lymphocytes, lymphocytes from patients with carcinoma, and lymphocytes from patients with non-malignant disorders. The cap formation of lymphocytes from a healthy donor or a lymphoma patient was independent of the source from which the cells were isolated, e.g., lymph-node, spleen or blood. Lymphoma cell lines established from tumours of BL patients and lymphoblastoid cell lines originating from other sources also exhibited an increased agglutination and reduced cap formation with con A. Further studies indicated that EBV-carrying human lymphoid lines had a reduced cap-forming ability compared to EBV-negative lines.