Increased ferritin synthesis and release by Hodgkin's disease peripheral blood lymphocytes

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with all stages of untreated Hodgkin's disease and from normal healthy adults were shown to synthesize and release ferritin in vitro. Ferritin synthesis was confirmed by immunoelectrophoresis, double immunodiffusion and autoradiography. Hodgkin's disease lymphocytes synthesized ferritin 4.2 times faster and released it 2.4 times faster than did normal lymphocytes, whereas total protein synthesis was faster in normal lymphocytes. Patients with nodular sclerosis and perhaps those with absence of fever had the highest synthetic rates; however no relationship was observed between relative rates of lymphocyte ferritin synthesis and sex, age, anatomical stage and presence of splenic or hepatic involvement by tumor. Addition of iron to normal human lymphocytes produced little or no change in ferritin synthesis. These data indicate that part of the intracellular ferritin detected in peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with Hodgkin's disease and from normal individuals resulted from de novo synthesis rather than from uptake and storage of serum ferritin, and suggests that elevated ferritin levels detected in the serum and tumor tissue of Hodgkin's disease patients originate from lymphocytes.