Spleen lymphocyte populations in patients with Hodgkin's disease--properties of cells with different densities.

Spleen lymphocytes from five patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) type mixed cellularity and five normal controls were studied. An increased percentage of 'null cells' was observed in three out of the five patients studied. The two other patients had increased percentage of T lymphocytes. Lymphocytes from spleen with HD had a decreased ability to respond to suboptimal concentrations of T cell mitogens. When these cells were fractionated in a discontinuous density gradient a subpopulation of cells, unable to respond to Con A, was recovered from the dense cell fractions. The implications of the present findings to the understanding of the physiopathological changes in HD are discussed.