Lymphocyte transfer tests in cancer patients and healthy people

Lymphocyte transfer tests (intradermal inoculations of suspensions of homologous leukocytes from healthy donors) were done in 21 healthy persons, 34 patients with lymphomatous neoplasms and six patients with other types of cancer. Observations were usually made daily for at least 10 days. An initial reaction of moderate induration and erythema reached its maximum diameter between 24 and 48 hours. A secondary reaction occurred in most recipients between 5 and 10 days. The results indicate that the primary reaction is principally nonspecific. The secondary reaction resembles a host-versus-graft effect, but the possibility of a graft-versus-host reaction was not excluded. The response of patients with lymphoma or other cancers did not differ significantly from the reaction of healthy persons in frequency, character or intensity of either the primary or secondary reaction.