Immunohistological localization of human lymphocyte subsets.

The technical aspects of immunohistological detection of lymphocyte surface antigens were studied in frozen and fixed, embedded tissues employing several immunoperoxidase and immunofluorescent methods. It was found that routine fixation and embedding destroyed immunostaining of surface immunoglobulin and T-cell surface antigen. Cytoplasmic immunoglobulin was preserved in fixed, embedded tissues. A comparative study of nonspecific staining in various tissues using different techniques revealed that immunoperoxidase methods generally gave lower nonspecific staining than immunofluorescent methods. The labeled avidin biotin method achieved the lowest nonspecific staining and appears to be superior to the other methods studied. A preliminary study of T lymphocyte subsets in human B-cell lymphomas and reactive lymph nodes was also performed. It was found that T-cell immunostaining patterns were altered in B-cell lymphomas in comparison to reactive lymph nodes, suggesting a more generalized disturbance of immunoregulation in these tumors.