Hyperthermic effects in vitro on the peripheral lymphocytes isolated from three cases of malignant lymphoma/leukemia

We have carried out in vitro studies of hyperthermic effects on the viability, blastogenesis, and ultrastructural changes of atypical lymphocytes isolated from the peripheral blood of three patients with malignant lymphoma/leukemia. One was lymphocytic lymphoma/leukemia (T-cell origin), and the others were adult T-cell lymphoma/leukemia (both acute and smoldering type). In the cases of adult T-cell lymphoma/leukemia, the peripheral lymphocytes were found to be more sensitive to hyperthermia than those of non-ATL patients in terms of trypan-blue exclusion ability and blastogenesis ability with concanavalin A challenge. When heated under sublethal conditions, lymphocytes of both ATL and non-ATL patients exhibited the following characteristics: production of multilayered nuclear membranes, increase in vesicles (lysosomes), swelling of mitochondria, and cytoplasmic vacuolization.