Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity correlated with histological classification and prognosis.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients classified according to the Rappaport classification system had depressed natural killer (NK) and NK cytotoxic factor activities, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, active killing potential as well as recycling capacity. The suppression of these activities was not related to the favorable or unfavorable prognosis of the patients. Paramaters of the NK cytotoxic status of the NHL patients did not correlate with the histology or prognosis of the disease.