Immunological Deficiency Disorders Associated with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Multiple Myeloma*

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Abstract
Four parameters of immunologic responsiveness are studied in 10 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and 14 with multiple myeloma (MM) : primary anti-OX formation, secondary antitoxin formation, primary delayed hypersensi-tivity to 2,4-dinitro-1-fluorobenzene, and delayed hypersensitivity to eight antigens presumed to have been encountered before disease. The results indicate that the immunologic deficiency disorder associated with CLL is usually different from that observed in association with MM. In the former, only delayed skin reactivity to commonly encountered antigens was consistently demonstrable. In contrast, in the MM group, 11 of 14 showed a secondary antitoxin response, and 9 of 11 the capacity to give a primary response to either OX or 2,4-dinitro-1-fluorobenzene. Two patients, one with gamma 1A myeloma and one with macroglobulinemia of Waldenstrom had normal secondary antitoxin responses but were unable to produce a detectable primary anti-OX response.