concanavalin-a and Remission--Spontaneous

Blood lymphocytes from 10 untreated patients with active Hodgkin's disease were compared with those of 10 cured patients with regard to the responsiveness of the cells to PHA and Con A following in vitro irradiation. Lymphocytes of patients remaining in long-term remission exhibited the same pattern of radiosensitivity as those of healthy donors: there was one relatively radiosensitive cell population and one relatively resistant. The latter cell population was undetectable in patients with an active disease. Reappearance of the radioresistant PHA and Con A reactive cell fractions might thus be associated with remission.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Cells, Cultured; Concanavalin A; Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; Hodgkin Disease; Humans; Lymphocyte Activation; Middle Aged; Remission, Spontaneous

Purified blood lymphocytes from 81 consecutive and previously untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease were studied in vitro. The patients were evaluated 23 to 52 months after institution of therapy and were divided into two prognostic groups: 1. Complete remission with or without previous relapse/relapses. 2. Uncontrolled relapse or decreased from Hodgkin's disease. Lymphocyte activation by concanavalin A, pokeweed mitogen or phytohaemagglutinin was impaired and spontaneous DNA synthesis was high in patients with poor prognosis as compared to the good prognosis group. The prognostic information increased if the four lymphocyte tests were combined in a score (range 0-8). All 8 patients with pronounced lymphocyte defects (score 7-8), died, while all patients with score 0 and 1 were in complete remission. In contrast, total lymphocyte and T-lymphocyte counts and lymphocyte stimulation by PPD were of no prognostic value. The ability of certain lymphocyte functions to predict prognosis was equal or better than that of age and better than clinical staging, histopathology and symptoms.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Concanavalin A; DNA; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Hodgkin Disease; Humans; Lectins; Leukocyte Count; Lymphocyte Activation; Lymphocytes; Male; Middle Aged; Mitogens; Prognosis; Recurrence; Remission, Spontaneous

Blood lymphocytes from 9 patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) were studied. The results were compared with those of 6 seminoma testis patients and 9 healthy unrelated controls. All patients were in complete and unmaintained remission more than 10 years after termination of radiotherapy. The mean T-lymphocyte count of HD patients was lower than that of controls and seminoma testis patients. Lymphocyte DNA synthesis induced by pokeweed mitogen and phytohaemagglutinin was normal in both patient groups. Concanavalin A-induced DNA synthesis was low in 4 patients with HD although the mean stimulation of the group did not differ from controls or seminoma testis patients. Lymphocyte activation by PPD was slightly decreased in the 2 patient groups. No increase in spontaneous lymphocyte DNA synthesis was observed. The responding and stimulatory capacity in mixed lymphocyte culture was decreased in 3 and 2 HD patients respectively. 4 out of the 9 patients with HD but none with seminoma testis displayed severe impairment in T-lymphocyte functions. As 1 of the 4 had been treated solely by surgery, late effects of irradiation can only partly explain the results. The results may favour a hypothesis postulating a constitutional defect contributing to the immunoincompetence in HD.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Child; Concanavalin A; DNA; Dysgerminoma; Female; Hodgkin Disease; Humans; Lectins; Leukocyte Count; Lymphocyte Activation; Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; Lymphocytes; Male; Middle Aged; Mitogens; Prognosis; Remission, Spontaneous; Testicular Neoplasms

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from 20 patients with acute infectious mononucleeosis (IM) were studied for cell aggregation and for cap formation by concanavalin A (Con A). The lymphocytes from these patients showed 5.2+/-1.5% cells with a Con-A-induced cap and a high degree of cell aggregation without Con A, compared to 27.7+/-3.2% caps and a low degree of cell aggregation with normal lymphocytes. The lymphocytes from IM patients were fractionated to enrich for T and B cells. There was a low frequency of cap formation in both T and B cells, but the high degree of celll aggregation without Con A only occurred with B cells. Studies with four patients in clinical remission from acute IM have shown that the frequency of Con-A-induced cap formation only returned to normal more than 3 months after the beginning of clinical remission and that even at 6 months the cells still showed a high degree of cell aggregation. The results indicate that a high degree of B-cell aggregation and a low percentage of B and T cells with a Con-A-induced cap were associated with acute IM and that the changes associated with a high degree of B-cell aggregation were by themselves not sufficient to cause the disease.

Topics: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Adult; B-Lymphocytes; Cell Aggregation; Cell Membrane; Child; Child, Preschool; Concanavalin A; Female; Humans; Infectious Mononucleosis; Lymphocyte Activation; Male; Middle Aged; Remission, Spontaneous; T-Lymphocytes; Trypsin; Vinblastine

Twenty consecutive patients with Hodgkin disease in continuous complete remission and off treatment for at least 5 yr (range 5-25 yr, median 9 yr) were studied with a battery of immunologic parameters. Skin test reactivity to four common antigens, sensitization to 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene, absolute lymphocyte count, relative percentage of T cells (as measured by spontaneous rosette formation with sheep erythrocytes) and B cells (as measured by immunofluorescence with polyvalent antiserum), and absolute number of T and B cells were normal when compared with controls. However, the mean value of lymphocyte response in vitro to the mitogen phytohemagglutinin for the study population was significantly decreased (p less than 0.001) when compared with the controls. This abnormality in response to mitogen could not be correlated with age, sex, stage, symptoms, histologic subclassification, or previous treatment. The data suggest the existence of a persisting cell-mediated immune defect in the circulating lymphocytes in patients with long-standing Hodgkin disease that might otherwise be considered "cured."

Topics: Antigens; B-Lymphocytes; Concanavalin A; Dinitrobenzenes; Female; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Hodgkin Disease; Humans; Immunologic Techniques; Lectins; Leukocyte Count; Lymphocyte Activation; Male; Remission, Spontaneous; Skin Tests; T-Lymphocytes

Topics: Agglutination Tests; B-Lymphocytes; Burkitt Lymphoma; Cell Membrane; Concanavalin A; Hodgkin Disease; Humans; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Lymph Nodes; Lymphocytes; Lymphoma; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin; Receptors, Concanavalin A; Remission, Spontaneous; Spleen

1. In Hodgkin's disease patient's immunological in vitro and in vivo parameters are of prognostic importance. 2. Skin test reactivity correlates to peripheral T-lymphocyte counts and Con A induced lymphoblastogenesis. 3. Con A is the most sensitive in vitro indicator for detecting latent immunodeficiency. 4. Hodgkin patients in long term remission after tumor reductive therapy exhibit a qualitative and quantitative lymphocyte defect. 5. In Hodgkin patients Herpes virus related antibody titers are elevated against Epstein Barr virus (EBV). The elevation coincides with a decreased T-cell number and function. Antibodies against other Herpes viruses (HSV, CMV, VZV) are in the normal range, when tested by the complement fixation method.

Topics: Antibodies, Viral; Concanavalin A; Herpesvirus 4, Human; Hodgkin Disease; Humans; Lymphocyte Activation; Prognosis; Remission, Spontaneous; Skin Tests; T-Lymphocytes

The production of IgE-class antibody specific for polymyxin B is documented in an 18-year-old white female acute myelocytic leukemic patient in relapse. The patient was rendered T cell-deficient by total body X-irradiation and antihuman thymocyte globulin for the purpose of bone marrow transplatation. Thereafter, symptoms of nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, and perinasal urtication produced by topical application of a polymyxin solution were noted. Reaginic activity mediated by an IgE antibody against polymyxin is documented by Prausnbitz-Küstner-type passive transfer reactions and by an indirect hemagglutination technique developed for these studies. The occurrence of type I hypersensitivity to this topical antibiotic is rare. It is speculated that pharmaceuticals normally having a low sensitizing potential might demonstrate increased reaginic immunogenicity in a spontaneously or iatrogenically T cell-depleted patient.

Topics: Adolescent; Aerosols; Animals; Antibody Formation; Antibody Specificity; Antilymphocyte Serum; Bone Marrow Cells; Bone Marrow Transplantation; Concanavalin A; Female; Hemagglutination Tests; Hemocyanins; Humans; Immunization, Passive; Immunoglobulin E; Lectins; Leukemia, Myeloid; Lymphocyte Activation; Lymphocyte Depletion; Patient Isolators; Polymyxins; Rabbits; Radiation Effects; Remission, Spontaneous; Serum Albumin, Bovine; Skin Tests; T-Lymphocytes; Transplantation, Homologous

Lymphocytes were isolated from the peripheral blood of 21 normal persons and 66 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), CLL in remission, Hodgkin's disease, Hodgkin's disease in remission, various other tumors, or cardiovascular diseases; The lymphocytes were studied for cap formation and agglutinability by concanavalin A, and for cell attachment to the surface of a petri dish. The frequency of cap formation was lowest in lymphocytes from patients with untreated Hodgkin's disease (2.1 plus or minus 0.8%), next lowest in lymphocytes from patients with CLL who were or were not under treatment (7,0 plus or minus 1;3%), and also low in Hodgkin's disease in remission (10.6 plus or minus 1.2%). The frequencies of cap formation by lymphocytes from patients with various other tumors (19.1 plus or minus 2.5%), with CLL in remission (24.0 plus or minus 0.9%), and with nonmalignant diseases (26.0 plus or minus 2.2%) were more similar to the frequency found in lymphocytes from normal persons (29.4 plus or minus 2.8%). Lymphocytes from all the patients, including those in remission, showed a higher degree of agglutinability by concanavalin A than lymphocytes from normal persons. Cell attachment to a petri dish was highest with CLL, next highest with CLL in remission, and low for normal persons and all the other patients. Lymphocytes from normal persons that consisted predominantly of thymus-derived cells gave similar results to isolated normal bone marrow-derived cells. The results indicate that there were different changes in the surface membrane of lymphocytes from patients with CLL, CLL in remission, Hodgkin's disease, and Hodgkin's disease in remission, and that the patients in clinical remission still showed abnormalities in their lymphocytes.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Agglutination; Cell Adhesion; Cell Membrane; Concanavalin A; Female; Hodgkin Disease; Humans; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Lymphocytes; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasms; Remission, Spontaneous

Topics: Aged; Agglutination Tests; Cell Membrane; Concanavalin A; Female; Hodgkin Disease; Humans; Immune Adherence Reaction; Immunity, Cellular; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Lymphocytes; Male; Middle Aged; Remission, Spontaneous; Stimulation, Chemical; Vinblastine

Topics: Adolescent; Animals; Antibodies, Viral; Bone Marrow; Bone Marrow Cells; Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins; Concanavalin A; Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests; Humans; Hypersensitivity, Delayed; Immune Sera; Immunity, Maternally-Acquired; Immunoglobulin A; Immunoglobulin Fragments; Immunoglobulin G; Lymphocytes; Lymphokines; Male; Mitogens; Rabbits; Remission, Spontaneous; Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis; Time Factors