The variable pattern of circulating lymphocyte subpopulations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
The percentages of T and B lymphocytes in 13 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia were determined at two-week intervals. One patient with "B-cell predominant" disease showed a decrease from 77 to 49 in the percentage of circulating B cells, which bind heat aggregated immunoglobulin and anti-human immunoglobulin. This patient had a comparable increase in T cells, which form rosettes with sheep erythrocytes. The lymphocytes of three other patients, who originally had equal percentages of cells that bound heat-aggregated immunoglobulin and anti-human immunoglobulin, lost lg determinants from 47 to 63 per cent of cells without changing the proportion of cells with receptors for heat-aggregated immunoglobulin or for sheep erythrocytes. The characterization of lymphocytes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia should include sequential determination of cell-surface markers for both T and B cells, since the disease does not represent a proliferation of B cells alone.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007104:Immune Adherence Reaction; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008875:Middle Aged; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell / Q000032:analysis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell