title: Cell electrophoretic characterization of lymphoid cells from various sources in patients with malignant non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
abstract: Lymphocytes of 36 patients with malignant Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) were characterized by electrophoretic mobility (EPM) and EAC-rosette and E-rosette formation. Unimodal cytopherograms found in patients with low-grade malignant NHL are compatible with a monoclonal origin of the proliferating lymphoid cells. Within the CLL subgroup, deviations from the general mean EPM value in the intermediumrange were not unequivocally related to the B- or T-cell origin of the lymphocytes and remain to be explained. Comparing distinct entities of low-grade malignant NHL characterized by lymphocyte arrest at a certain stage of differentiation (Kiel Classification) we found an increase of the mean EPM in the direction of CLL----lymphoplasmacytoid immunocytoma----polymorphic immunocytoma. This arrest of leukemic cells at a certain EPM level may support a cytogenetically oriented subclassification of NHL. The Limitations of the diagnostic value of cytopherograms and rosette formation in malignant NHL--especially in those of high malignancy--are outlined.
mesh_terms: D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004586:Electrophoresis; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology*; D012397:Rosette Formation