[Pathogenesis of immunologic deficiency in the initial stage of lymphogranulomatosis in children]

Antilymphocytic monoclonal antibodies of HKO and OKT series were used to study surface antigens of peripheral blood and lymph node lymphocytes in 13 untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease. The purpose of the study was to identify the pathogenetic mechanism underlying the development of immunodeficiency in the early disease stages. The data obtained have demonstrated that the deficiency of T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood was connected with that of mature T cells in the lymph nodes revealed with the use of differential antigens complex. Deficiency of immunologically differentiated T lymphocytes in the lymph nodes combined with high counts of the cells whose membranes carry Ia-like antigen point to the immunologically unfavourable course of the disease.