Ferritin on the surface of lymphocytes in Hodgkin's disease patients. A possible blocking substance removed by levamisole.

Enzymatic radioiodination of surface proteins of Hodgkin's disease peripheral blood mononuclear cells revealed the presence of a blocking protein on their surface. This protein shed into the medium after incubation with levamisole, which resulted in the unmasking of surface proteins similar to those on normal monunuclear cells. The blocking substance was identified. It reacted with anti-human spleen ferritin. It had no detectable iron and dissociated into monomeric subunits of 18,000 mol. wt. by reduction and alkylation, and therefore it is most probably apoferritin rather than ferritin.