Spontaneous (H)-thymidine uptake in histological subgroups of human B-cell lymphomas

Spontaneous (3H)-TdR incorporation was studied in cell suspensions from 64 patients with monoclonal B-cell neoplasias. Among various incubation periods a long-term (20 h) assay with (3H)-TdR had the greatest discriminatory power versus non-neoplastic lymph node cell suspensions. The (3H)-TdR uptake correlated positively with cell volume, nuclear volume, and cells in S + G + M phase of the cell cycle. A high degree of heterogeneity with regard to (3H)-TdR incorporation was found within several histological groups of the Kiel classification, especially in low-grade malignant lymphomas of centroblastic/centrocytic origin and in the lymphoplasmacytoid groups. In highly malignant lymphomas (3H)-TdR uptake was statistically, significantly higher than in lymphomas of low-grade malignancy. Patients with localized disease (stages I and II) and those with "B'-symptoms showed increased incorporation of radioactive thymidine as compared to patients with disseminated mined by histopathology and spontaneous uptake of (3H)-TdR.