Inability of Leukocytes to Stimulate Mixed Leukocyte Reactions

Summary

In vitro studies were performed on 12 patients with Hodgkin's disease. Irradiated leukocytes (WBCx) from 7 patients did not stimulate 3H-thymidine incorporation in lymphocytes from healthy allogeneic donors. This nonstimulation could not be ascribed to compatibility and was not due to an inhibitor in the patients' plasma, a macrophage abnormality, or poor survival of patients' WBC in vitro. In most cases, the ratio of granulocytes to lymphocytes made it unlikely that poor stimulation by patients' WBCx was due to inhibition by granulocytes, unless granulocytes from such patients have an unusually potent inhibiting capacity. Defective WBCx stimulation was associated mainly with reduced responsiveness of patients' lymphocytes to allogeneic control WBCx and/or phytohemagglutinin. Poor WBCx stimulation in the mixed-leukocyte reaction was usually associated with rapidly progressive, therapeutically resistant Hodgkin's disease. This test may prove useful for assessing clinical prognosis.