A reevaluation of B-lymphocyte levels in peripheral blood from cancer patients.

B-lymphocytes were quantitated in mononuclear cell suspensions derived from the peripheral blood of patients with various nonlymphoreticular cancers. The method used was anti-IgM and anti-IgD membrane immunofluorescence. The mean percentage of circulating B-lymphocytes in 78 cancer patients tested was 5.3 +/- 4.6 with a range of 0--18%. Those values were compared with a mean of 9.4 +/- 4.0 and a range of 3--20% for 46 apparently normal individuals. The difference was highly significant (P less than or equal to 0.001). The mean percentage of B-cells in cell suspensions from 43 patients that were tested prior to treatment was 5.8 +/- 4.8 with a range of 0--18%. Very low values were observed both in the presence and absence of therapy, and a correlation with stage of disease could not be established. The low values were associated with decreased T-cell numbers and significantly increased monocyte levels. The fact that those values were significantly lower than have been reported previously for cancer patients was discussed as was the identity of the cells that previously had been counted as B-lymphocytes.