title: B-cell activation of peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with chronic lymphatic leukaemia.
abstract: The mitogenic response of blood lymphocytes from twelve patients with B-cell CLL and seven healthy controls was investigated. All patients were untreated and had a typical B-cell dominance in their peripheral blood. The patients demonstrated a scattered response pattern with a higher variance than in the control group. We demonstrated examples of stimulation of DNA-synthesis by polyclonal B-cell activators (PBA) as well as inhibition. The variable pattern between the patients might result from a malignant transformation of cells originating from different lymphocyte subpopulations in different patients. Thus PBA studies of lymphocytes from CLL patients might be a valuable tool in characterizing further this clinically variable disease at the cellular level.
mesh_terms: D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000276:immunology; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006801:Humans; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D008934:Mitogens; D004247:DNA