The binding of ouabain to normal and chronic lymphocytic leukemic lymphocytes

The binding of the cardiac glycoside, ouabain, to cells had been used to quantify the number of active cation pumps. In this study, lymphocytes were incubated with 3H-ouabain and the equilibrium binding analyzed for the maximal number of specific binding sites. Lymphocytes from normal peripheral blood bound 44,200 +/- 9920 molecules/cell, compared with 29,200 +/- 8370 molecules/cell for the lymphocytes of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) subjects. This difference was significant (p less than 0.01) and did not reflect a lower number of sites on B cells than T cells, since B-cell-enriched lymphocytes from normal peripheral blood showed the same ouabain binding characteristics as the standard T-cell-rich preparation. Although monocytes bind threefold more ouabain than lymphocytes, the small monocyte contamination (3.0%) in normal lymphocyte preparations could not account for the difference between normal and CLL. The fewer ouabain binding sites on CLL lymphocytes may reflect both their smaller size (by 10%) and lower mitotic activity compared with lymphocytes from normal peripheral blood.