B and T lymphocytes in man. II. Circulating B and T lymphocytes in cancer patients.

B, T and "Null" lymphocytes from 87 coded peripheral blood samples from 33 normals and 54 nonoperable or progressive cancer patients were determined. The controls have higher mean numbers of circulating lymphocytes than the cancer patients. Radiation-treated cancer patients have lower values than non-irradiated patients. This phenomenon is also seen in the relative and absolute T, but not the B lymphocytes. There was no difference in the B lymphocytes among the different groups of patients. However, the controls have the highest and the radiation-treated cancer patients have the lowest absolute numbers of B lymphocytes. Although cancer patients have higher relative numbers of "Null" cells than the controls, only the difference between the controls and the radiation-treated cancer patients was statistically significant.