[Morphologic criteria of surface studies by electron microscopy and classification of lymphoproliferative syndromes. Critical study].

Surface associated immunoglobulins (s.Ig) have been detected on human lymphocytes, in normal individuals and in disease, by an immunoelectron microscopic method using peroxidase-labeled antibodies. Experiments have been carried out on fixed cell suspensions, in order to avoid membrane alterations induced by anti-immunoglobulin antibodies. Normal human blood B lymphocytes have a villous surface. However this relationship between microvilli and detectable s.Ig, as found in the normal state, is not confirmed by examinating various T and B cell proliferative states. Thus surface morphology alone is not sufficient for classifying cells in disease. The precise nature of mononuclear cells from hairy cell leukemia remains nuclear.