R. Brent Archibald and John H. Frenster
Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California
94305
Lymphocytic infiltration of Hodgkin's Disease lymph nodes correlates with a good prognosis, and may represent a host immune response to Reed-Sternberg cells and their precursors.
Lymph node biopsies positive for Reed-Sternberg cells from untreated patients were examined by electron microscopy. Reed-Sternberg cells and their precursor cells were graded for the degree of ultrastuctural toxic changes. The circumference of each neoplastic cell was measured by planimetry. The sector of the circumference occupied by each surrounding lymphocyte was also measured, and was expressed as a decimal fraction of the neoplastic cell total circumference. Sectors occupied by lymphocytes in tight or loose apposition to the neoplastic cell were separately summed for each cell.
A direct and significant correlation was found between the degree of toxic change seen within a neoplastic cell and the percentage of its circumference occupied by lymphocytes in tight apposition to it.
These data ae consistent with a lymphocyte-mediated immune response to the neoplastic cells, and support the search for tumor-associated antigens in patients with Hodgkin's Disease.
Supported by NIH grants CA-10174 and AM-01006, and by a Research Scholar award from the Leukemia Society.
2. "Electron Microscopic Analysis of Lymph Node Cellular Activity in Hodgkin's Disease".
3. "In-Vivo Macrophage Interactions with Lymphocytes in Hodgkin's Disease".