David T. Rowlands

Immunocompetent cells from the lower respiratory tract of normal human lungs.

Subpopulations of lymphocytes in the broncho-alveolar air spaces of normal human lungs were compared with those in peripheral blood. Bone marrow-derived (bursal-equivalent) cells (B cells) were identified by complement receptors (EAC rosettes) and by surface immunoglobulin. Thymus-derived lymphocytes (T cells) were identified by their proliferative response to mitogens and the E rosette technique. Cells in lung air spaces were recovered from eight healthy nonsmoking volunteers by segmental lavage with the flexible bronchofiberscope. On the average, macrophages constituted 78% and lymphocytes 17% of the cells in the aspirates. B cells detected by surface immunoglobulin and complement receptors equaled 22% and 15% of lung lymphocytes, respectively. The distribution of lung B cells into heavy chain immunoglobulin classes revealed IgM and IgG to be the predominant classes, with mean values of 14.5% and 9.3%, respectively; the corresponding value for IgA was 5%. A comparable order of frequency (IgM greater than IgG greater than IgA) was observed for purified peripheral blood lymphocytes in the same and other control subjects. T cells comprised the majority (47%) of identifiable lung lymphocytes by the E rosette method. The presence of lung T cells was also corroborated by their proliferative response to mitogens (phytohemagglutinin and concanavallin A), but the response was less than that of equal numbers of peripheral blood lymphocytes from the same subjects. The B/T cell ratio for lung lymphocytes was comparable to results with peripheral blood lymphocytes in the same subjects, but a higher proportion of lung lymphocytes could not be identified as either T or B cells. It is postulated that lung lymphocytes participate in the local immune defenses of the lung.

Lymphocyte Subpopulations in Sarcoidosis: Correlation with Disease Activity and Duration

We studied lymphocytes from the peripheral blood of 29 sarcoid patients to relate T- and B-cell populations with disease activity and duration. In patients with acute (less than 1 year) and chronic (greater than or equal to 9 years) active disease, the absolute lymphocyte count was reduced; the absolute number of T cells was reduced; and the proliferative response of lymphocytes to phytohemagglutinin was depressed compared with control subjects. Ten of 21 patients with active disease had 5% to 32% atypical lymphocytes. The proportion of cells bearing surface immunoglobulin (Ig) was increased in patients with active disease, but the absolute number of cells bearing surface Ig did not differ significantly from controls. However, studies using overnight in-vitro culture indicated that a large fraction of these cells bound exogenous Ig. The number of cells indentified by complement receptors was significantly reduced in patients with active disease. In contrast, patients who had complete reasolution of their disease showed no significant differences from controls in either T- or B-cell populations or in the proliferative response of their lymphocytes to phytohemagglutinin.

Cytogenetics of chronic T cell leukemia, including two patients with a 14q+ translocation.

SummaryChromosome studies were done on 7 patients with chronic T cell leukemia. Their lymphocytes responded in culture to one or more T cell mitogens: PHA, Con A, or the calcium ionophore A23187. Clones of cytogenetically-abnormal cells were present in all seven patients, but on occasion the frequency of such cells varied greatly in cultures stimulated with different mitogens. There was no consistent chromosome change, but alterations of chromosome 2 were noted in four individuals and of chromosome 14 in three. In two patients, there was a translocation to the long arm of chromosome 14, producing a 14q+, with the break point in the terminal portion, an abnormality previously observed in B cell lymphomas. One of these patients also showed evidence of clonal evolution in sequential cytogenetic studies, but more data are needed to determine whether such investigations are of prognostic value with respect to the clinical course of the disease.

Surface receptors in the immune response.

CELLULAR membranes are not simply elaborately constructed containers of cytoplasmic organelles. Rather, the cell surface interface is a complex, highly mobile structure that functions in recognizin...

Antibodies to T cells in sarcoidosis.

Antibodies to a proportion of T lymphocytes were detected in the sera of 9 of 15 patients with sarcoidosis. Patients were studied within one year of tissue diagnosis, none were taking steroids, and all had hilar adenopathy with pulmonary infiltrates (Stage II). Antibodies were identified by three assays using a panel of T cells purified (greater than or equal to 90%) from the peripheral blood of healthy donors by the nylon column technique. Nine of fifteen sarcoid inhibited the capacity of normal T cells to adhere to sheep red blood cells (E rosettes) with an average reduction of 33% (range 21-46%) from control values. Antibodies to T cells were also identified using the indirect immunofluorescent method; 7 of 15 sera contained antibodies (IgM and IgG) to a portion of T cells (mean 36%, range 24-52%). Four of these sera were also cytotoxic to a fraction (18-31%) of T cells when incubated (15 degrees, 90 min) in the presence of rabbit complement. The antibodies to T cells identified in the sera of sarcoid patients may account for some of the immunological abnormalities found in this disease.

Characterization of lymphocyte subpopulations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

B cell and T cell characteristics of circulating lymphocytes were studied in 13 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (C.L.L.). Immunofluorescence of surface immunoglobulins and rosette formation using sensitized sheep red blood cells were employed to detect B cells. Rosette formation with untreated sheep red blood cells and in vitro PHA stimulation and cytogenetics were used to study T cells. The findings generally confirm the conclusions of others that C.L.L. usually represents a proliferative disorder of B cells, probably clonal in nature. In 11 of 13 cases the predominant cell surface immunoglobulin was IgM; in 1 case it was IgG, and in 1 case there was only a slight elevation in the incidence of IgM positive cells. In general, EAC rosette studies confirmed the observations made using immunofluorescence, but in one case this correspondence was apparent only after the incidence of EAC rosettes was increased by pretreatment of the C.L.L. cells with 2‐mercaptoethanol. In another case, the incidence of EAC rosette‐forming cells significantly exceeded the incidence of immunofluorescent cells, perhaps suggesting a variable expression of different surface markers on neoplastic cells in C.L.L. E rosette studies and PHA cultures indicated a decreased proportion of T cells in the peripheral blood of these patients, but suggested that the absolute number of T cells was not reduced. Further, kinetic and cytogenetic studies in PHA cultures demonstrated no qualitative abnormality in the circulating T cells in this disease, supporting the view that they represent a normal population diluted in a large pool of neoplastic B cells.

Persistent lymphocytosis with chromosomal evidence of malignancy.

An inappropriate, sustained and absolute lymphocytosis in a young man was investigated using technics which attempted to define the more detailed features of these cells and their T and B subpopulations. The results of the tests for lymphocyte RFC (E) and complement (EAC) rosette formation, immunofluorescence, in vitro phytohemagglutin (PHA) stimulation and 14C-cyclo-phosphamide binding assays, when evaluated in a combined and interrelated fashion, indicated that the lymphocytosis was mainly but not solely, due to an absolute elevation in circulating T lymphocytes. Moreover, an aneuploid cell line with 47 chromosomes, presumably T cells, also was detected in PHA-stimulated cultures. These data, associated with the patients anemia, lymphocyte-infiltrated bone marrow, hepatosplenomegaly, pharyngeal lymphoid tumor and the clonal proliferation of lymphocytes bearing an abnormal karyotype, furnish evidence that the lymphocytosis is more than an unremitting leukemoid reaction and is potentially neoplastic. The detection of the chromosomal abnormality at this patients age and point in disease may make him especially unique in that he could be a clinical prototype for other patients with lymphoreticular tumors which remain undetected at their onset.

Land and Homes for Returning Servicemen

T HE practice of according special privilege to military men for the special service rendered their country in times of war has been employed in some form by practically every country. Traditional among the perquisites extended the veterans of wars is the grant of land or some special advantage in the ownership of land acquired by them in private transactions. The purposes and the forms of the grant or aid extended the soldier have varied with the political and economic position of his government, and the extent and the pattern of aid given have been a reflection of its attitude toward the problem of rehabilitating the soldier on his return to civilian life. Frequently a government has treated the land grant from the point of view of getting its land settled, thereby extending its influence as a nation, rather than from the point of rehabilitating the soldier. Such a point of view is neither logical nor just. It is especially illogical in an economy which is built on industrial specialization and in which most of the servicemen have been wrenched from a complicated urban life. Even in agricultural economies, the land grant has been of dubious merit where governments have failed to recognize the problems of the soldier in rehabilitating himself in civilian life.

WICKENS, DAVID L. Residential Real Es tate: Its Economic Position as Shown by Values, Rents, Family Incomes, Financ ing, and Construction. Pp. xxii, 305. New York: National Bureau of Eco nomic Research, 1941.

of indirect or beneficial owners; they include undisclosed amounts of trading executed outside of exchange markets; they include trading by corporations, trusts, estates, and other entities besides individuals, involving a measure of overlapping in amounts reported. Professor Smith is thoroughly aware of these difficulties. Where possible, corrections are made to allow for them. But it may be seriously doubted whether in refined form much can be drawn from the figures beyond intelligent guesses. G. WRIGHT HOFFMAN

3.50:

land values and benefits to property, the fact that these standards were uniformly applied to the various parkway systems should give them validity. The general analysis of legislative and administrative machinery which has led to the development of these parkways is particularly valuable. The whole book shows careful gathering of facts and a discernment of their values which should prove invaluable to students of the most advanced methods of parkway development. The favorable impression which is conveyed in this book as to the possibilities and values of parkway systems raises two fundamental questions: First, what is the limit of these land value increases that may be expected, and at what point will the law of diminishing returns begin to operate? There is no doubt that parkways facilitate traffic between the outlying districts and the central city; but the rate at which land value increases can be absorbed by future migrations to the periphery of the city within the range of parkway benefits raises a serious question as to how far the cost of safe automobile travel facilities should be charged against the advantage of living in decent surroundings. Second, although parkway development presents many advantages to the outlying districts in preventing &dquo;linear slums&dquo; along the main arteries of travel and in making