• 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 38 (2), 288-296
Abstract
The response to phytohemagglutinin of peripheral blood lymphocytes was studied in 169 cancer patients. There was a significant decrease compared with control groups (normal persons and those with benign disease). By selecting cancer leukocyte samples with reactivity to phytohemagglutinin that was increased by carrageenan, a macrophage-toxic agent, and by mixing them with normal lymphocytes, it was demonstrated that the depressed phytohemagglutinin of 6 cancer patients'' lymphocytes was due to the presence of suppressor cells that possibly were monocytes.