Abnormal peripheral blood lymphocytes and bone marrow infiltration in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The blood lymphocytes of 21 normal blood specimens, 20 patients with various malignant disorders and 63 patients with non-Hodgkin's disease lymphoma, all with lymphocyte counts below 6 x 10(9)/l, were examined by sheep red cell rosetting, fluorescent antisera to surface immunoglobulin and for sensitivity to colchicine. The results were correlated with bone marrow infiltration and lymph node histological findings. The ratio of kappa to lambda light chains in the surface immunglobulin was used to determine if an abnormal clone of lymphocytes was present. In the normals and the non lymphoma controls the expected normal ratio of approximately 2K to 1 lambda was found with a narrow spread. In non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cases there was a wide spread of ratios with half the cases outside the range of the controls. These cases were considered to have a clone of abnormal lymphocytes in the blood although their routine blood and differential counts were usually normal. There was a very significant correlation of the presence of a clone with ultrasensitivity to colchicine and with involvement of the bone marrow. 81% of the cases with a histological diagnosis of well-differentiated diffuse lymphocytic lymphoma, 64% of those with poorly differentiated diffuse but only 22% of those with diffuse histiocytic had an abnormal lymphocyte clone demonstrated by an abnormal K:lambda ratio.