Clinical Significance of Mitogen‐Induced Responses in Lymphocytes from Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

The mitogenic response patterns as well as surface membrane receptors of peripheral blood lymphocytes were investigated repeatedly during progression of the disease in 27 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Each patient was characterized by a reproducible mitogenic response pattern. Eleven patients, who required treatment within 0-24 months after diagnosis, had significantly higher cellular responses to dextran sulphate (DxS) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) than 10 patients who have not required treatment within an observation time of 10-40 months from diagnosis. The high LPS and DxS responses, which may indicate leukemias composed of more immature cells, appear to predict a poor prognosis.