Zinc uptake in normal and leukemic lymphocytes: effect of poly-L-ornithine.

Phytohemagglutinin and poly-L-ornithine were tested for their ability to stimulate uptake of transferrin-bound zinc by lymphocytes from both normal donors and donors with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The ratio of zinc uptake in poly-L-ornithine cultures to zinc uptake in phytohemagglutinin cultures was 0.9 +/- 0.3 for leukemic lymphocytes and 1.9 +/- 0.2 for normal lymphocytes. Results indicated that this technique may be useful in the diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia as well as in the assessment of the efficacy of chemotherapeutic regimens.