The effects of sera from Ra dial painters on the mitogenic responses of normal human lymphocytes

Sera from former Ra workers were incubated with normal human lymphocytes and the effects produced in stimulation assays with specific mitogens were compared with those observed with incubation using normal human sera. The sera from the Ra workers with high residual body burdens (greater than 0.1 muCi 226Ra) inhibited normal control lymphocytes stimulated with Con A and PHA when compared with control homologous sera. Although a significant suppression was not obtained between high- and low-body-burden groups a trend was indicated. Sera from the highest body-burden worker (0.58 muCi) was inhibitory to all normal lymphocyte populations tested regardless of the mitogen stimulant employed.