Thymus-dependent and nonthymus-dependent lymphocytes in patients with sarcomas.

Several measurements indicate that cellular and humoral immunity is depressed in patients with sarcoma; but whether such observations reflect diminished numbers of lymphocytes and their subpopulations is not known. We determined the numbers of peripheral leukocytes, lymphocytes, rosette-forming thymus-dependent cells (T cells), and nonthymus-dependent SmIg-bearing cells in 134 patients with various mesenchymal sarcoma and in 47 normal controls. In all of these determinations, patients and controls gave similar values. Furthermore, values for patients with or without tumor, with or without metastasis, and with bone or soft-tissue sarcomas were similar. All 134 patients were studied prospectively, and the 84 who remained free of disease after 6 months had virtually identical values to the 50 who showed disease progression.