Serum Migration-Inhibitory Activity in Patients with Lymphoproliferative Diseases

Abstract

Macrophage migration-inhibitory activity can be detected in the serums of the majority of patients with lymphoproliferative disease, but in less than 3 per cent of controls. This activity was found in 14 of 16 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 10 of 13 with Hodgkin's disease, and four of five with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. In addition, two of three patients with multiple myeloma had low but detectable serum activity. The presence of such substances in the serums of these patients did not seem to be related to any of the clinical or laboratory measurements available, with the possible exception of duration of disease. No distinction was observed for diseases presumed to be dependent upon abnormalities of either T or B lymphocytes. Thus, in addition to immunologic activation, possible stimuli for the production of migration-inhibition factors in these patients included virus infection, the presence of nonspecific mitogenic factors and the proliferative response of the neoplastic cells itself. (N Engl J Med 290:882–886, 1974)