Spontaneous lymphocyte transformation in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

In ten patients with CLL and in eight controls T lymphocytes were separated out by the rosetting method. The in vitro reactivity of these cells and of unseparated lymphocytes was studied in cultures without stimulants. A net increase of spontaneous lymphocyte transformation was found in the populations enriched with T cells in patients with CLL with respect to analogous populations in the controls. This increase is interpreted as a cell-mediated immunological reaction and due to T-cell sensitization towards the neoplastic B cells.