Reduced rates of membrane turnover in lymphocytes from chronic lymphatic leukaemic patients

Lymphocytes in chronic lymphatic leukaemia (CLL) were found to release labelled antibodies against surface antigens at a slower rate than healthy cells and `escape from sensitization' was similarly prolonged in the abnormal lymphocytes. This suggests that membrane turnover in CLL lymphocytes is abnormally slow. The leukaemic cells can be provoked to turn over antisera more quickly by prior exposure to mitogenic stimulation and if nuclear material is used as a mitogen, membrane turnover will increase to a rate approaching that observed in normal lymphocytes. Once this acceleration has been achieved the leukaemic lymphocytes no longer react to an antiserum with specificity for leukaemic antigens and this result suggests that the leukaemic state of the CLL cell may be controlled by the surface membrane.