Lymphocyte Reactivity in Hodgkin's Disease: A Lymphocyte Civil War

Abstract

Lymphocyte reactivity in Hodgkin's disease has plagued clinicians for many years. Adenopathy occurs from reactive follicular hyperplasia in nodes around tumor and accounts for many negative biopsies in patients ultimately proved to have the disease. Falsely positive lymphograms and splenomegaly without evidence of tumor invasion are relatively common occurrences that have been re-emphasized in many recent studies employing laparotomy for staging the disease. Reactive lymphoid changes were also noted by Crowther et al.¹ in 1967, when they described lymphoblastoid cells unresponsive to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in the peripheral blood of patients with Hodgkin's disease. Now Longmire et al., in this issue . . .