Antithymocyte Antisera Globulin Effect on Human Lymphoid Neoplasia

Abstract

Six patients with preexisting lymphoproliferative neoplastic diseases received purified antithymocyte antisera globulin. A mean dose of 1,784 mg was administered over a mean period of 54 days. Beneficial therapeutic effects on associated immunologically mediated diseases were seen in two of the four patients with such abnormalities. There was no evidence of a therapeutic response with this agent on the neoplastic process, although the white-blood cell count transiently fell in a single case of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Severe immunodepression was created in all subjects. In spite of this, there was no suggestion of either tumor spread or accentuated neoplastic growth following therapy with this drug. Two subjects, who have been followed up for 24 and 43 months, respectively, since therapy, manifested no evidence of a detrimental effect on the malignant process.