Comparison of modifications of the rosette test for detecting T lymphocytes

Experiments were carried out with blood lymphocytes from 30 healthy subjects and 70 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Results of the rosette test with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) were compared by the methods of: I) Wybran (incubation at room temperature, reading after 3 hr); II) Jondal (incubation at temp. 310.15K (37 degrees C) and 277.15K (4 degrees C), reading after 24 hr; III) Weiner et al. (neuraminidase-treated SRBC, incubation at 273.15K (0 degrees C), reading after 15 min; IV) as in method III, but reading after 24 hr. The method of Wybran gave lowest results, statistically significantly differing from the results obtained by the other methods. The other modifications gave results that did not differ significantly. Neuraminidase treatment of SRBC accelerates formation of stable rosettes and this method is recommended in cases where a brief period of incubation is required. In other cases, the method of Jondal may be used.