Abstract
The neoplastic cells of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have been studied for the presence of specific membrane receptors, and the annual incidence rates of malignant lymphoma in Nagasaki district in 1973 and 1974 have been examined. Considering the national and ethnical backgrounds, the clinical and geographic difference between our cases and the cases reported in the other parts of Japan and Western countries is discussed in this synposium.
Unlike the majority of CLL cells studied in Western countries, which have been of B-cell origin with surface-IgM, CLL cells in present series had Ig-determinants for IgG, and some CLL with s-IgG positive cells were associated with serum IgG M-components.
Then, according to a study of surface characteristics on tumor cells from 41 NHL patients, 46% were classified as T-cell origin, 27% as B-cell origin and 27% as non-T, non-B cell type. The majority of T cell lymphoma, which were compatible with adult T-cell leukemia reported by Uchiyama et al, had the specific clinical, histological and geographic characteristics. Therefore, the authors confirmed that there is distinctive T cell lymphoma localized predominantly in Kyushu Island.
