Restoration of cellular immune response by levamisole in patients with Hodgkin's disease.

Cellular responses were studied in patients with Hodgkin's disease before and after levamisole treatment "in vivo" by measuring delayed skin reactivity to various antigens (PPD, Mumps, Candida and SK-SD), and "in vitro" by evaluating lymphocyte capacity to form spontaneous rosettes and to react to the T-cell mitogen PHA. Levamisole was found to significantly increase both the delayed skin reactivity and the number of T-rosette forming lymphocytes. Patients within two years from irradiation had reduced reactivity to PHA and in them levamisole significantly increased this reactivity. On the other hand, patients who had been irradiated more than two years prior to the study had normal reactivity to PHA which tended to decrease under levamisole treatment. It is concluded that levamisole restores the depressed cellular immunity in patients with Hodgkin's disease and its administration might be indicated in patients, especially in the immediate post-irradiation period.