EXPRESSION AND SPECIFICITY OF FCIGG RECEPTOR-SITES ON NEOPLASTIC LYMPHOCYTES

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 52  (5) , 911-921
Abstract
The ability of an FcIgG receptor marker to discriminate between subtypes of human malignant lymphoproliferative diseases that differed in their clinical presentations was investigated. A quantitative radioimmunoassay was established that evaluated average receptor densities on a population basis. Surface receptors were first saturated with Ig[immunoglobulin]G complexes. The number of membrane associated IgG molecules was subsequently determined with 125I-staphylococcal protein A. Results obtained with this assay on a battery of malignant lymphocytes suggested that the range of receptor densities of malignant B [bone marrow-derived] and T [thymus-derived] cells might overlap each other but would correlate with the degree of tumor cell differentiation and the clinical stage of the underlying disease. This behavior limits the use of this marker in the characterization of the derivation of malignant lymphocytes; these findings, however, may be useful in the prognostic classification of lymphomas of known origin.