Summary. Receptor sites for AGG were evaluated autoradiographically after incubation of blood or lymph node lymphocytes with 125I‐labelled proteins. 18 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, 17 with non‐Hodgkin lymphoma and 27 healthy controls were investigated. In the normal controls an average of 15% of blood lymphocytes were labelled. In patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia 16 of 18 patients showed a marked increase of lymphocytes with this receptor. In non‐Hodgkin lymphomas high numbers of lymphocytes reacting with AGG were found in biopsies of pathological lymph nodes, but rarely observed in the peripheral blood. Further support for the B‐cell nature of these lymphocytes was obtained in experiments with anti‐Ig‐antisera and differential centrifugation after rosette formation with unsensitized sheep red blood cells.

On blood lymph nodes and spleen cells of 4 patients with leukemic reticuloendotheliosis (LR) the binding of 125-J-labelled IgG aggregates as well as binding of 125J-labeled anti immunoglobulin sera was studied. Moreover the capacity to form spontaneous rosettes with sheep red blood cells to bind immune complement complexes as well as the proliferative response in the presence of PHA were investigated. On the surface of hairy cells a variety of immunoglobulins were demonstrable. IgG of both types was found to be the predominant surface bound immunoglobulin and evidence was obtained, that these antibodies were adsorbed from the serum via Fc-receptors. In all LR-cases the percentages of T-cell rosettes as well as the PHA responses were decreased when compared with the normal controls. The numbers of immune complement complex binding cells were in the range of the normal controls. Results are discussed with respect to the origin of hairy cells in LR.

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The present investigations confirm and extend previous reports on the occurrence of cytochemical anomalies among the hemopoietic cells in preleukemia. The cytochemical patterns of the hemopoietic cells obtained from 19 patients suffering from a preleukemic disorder have been studied. The diagnostic value of the cytochemical examination using a panel of 10 different tests is emphasized. In a prospective study in 17 out of 25 patients, preleukemia had been correctly diagnosed. In 4 patients leukemia developed within 2–4 months from the diagnosis (‘imminent leukemia’), in 13 patients leukemia or smouldering leukemia developed between 4 and 25 months after the diagnosis (‘true preleukemia’). The cytochemical profiles of the hemopoietic cells of the latter have been compared with those of 14 patients suffering from aplastic anemia. In preleukemia the blasts did not exceed 3% of the nucleated bone marrow cells. The clinical value of the diagnosis ‘preleukemia’ is discussed as well as the prognosis and the possible therapeutic approaches.

Prolymphocytic leukaemia occurred in two women aged 75 and 57 years, respectively. In both instances the lymphatic cells fulfilled the morphological criteria of the disease picture. In one patient the disease was characterised by immunological and physical methods as being a B-cell lymphoma, in the other a T-cell lymphoma. Acid phosphatase was of special significance among cytochemical studies. While the patient with the T-cell lymphoma died after three months, the one with B-cell lymphoma is still alive 16 months later. Splenectomy resulted in marked improvement in the latter patient's condition and may turn out to be the treatment of choice in prolymphocytic leukaemia.