[Detection of lymphokines in patients' blood serum]

A factor suppressing the migration of donor leukocytes and macrophages of guinea pigs in vitro was revealed in the blood serum of patients suffering from chronic inflammatory diseases (pneumonia, rheumatism, tuberculosis) and carcinoma. A factor stimulating the leukocyte migration was sometimes revealed in the blood sera of the patients. In chromatography of the blood sera on sephadex G-100 the activity of both factors proved to localize in fractions with the mol wt of 15000--45000 dalton. Depression of stimulation of leukocyte migration could be also caused by immunoglobulin fractions (mol wt--150000 dalton) of the blood sera of patients suffering from acute pneumonia, apparently on account of the presence in them of the antigen-antibody complex; however, these sera contained no migration suppression factor. The blood serum fractions with the mol wt of 15000--45000 dalton, including those containing the migration suppression factor inhibited the inhibited the spontaneous and induced by phytohemagglutinin blast transformation lymphocytes, and the immunoglobulin ones--the latter only. Apparently the migration suppression factor of the blood serum served as the product of activated lymphocytes.