[Morphologic criteria of surface studies by electron microscopy and classification of lymphoproliferative syndromes....

Surface associated immunoglobulins (s.Ig) have been detected on human lymphocytes, in normal individuals and in disease, by an immunoelectron microscopic method using peroxidase-labeled antibodies. Experiments have been carried out on fixed cell suspensions, in order to avoid membrane alterations induced by anti-immunoglobulin antibodies. Normal human blood B lymphocytes have a villous surface. However this relationship between microvilli and detectable s.Ig, as found in the normal state, is not confirmed by examinating various T and B cell proliferative states. Thus surface morphology alone is not sufficient for classifying cells in disease. The precise nature of mononuclear cells from hairy cell leukemia remains nuclear.