Lymphocyte Stimulation

Abstract

The renaissance era of the lymphocyte is upon us. Two critical experimental observations ushered in the new age. One was Gowan's finding that the predominant population of peripheral lymphocytes leaves the blood, only to return via the lymphatics. The other was Nowell's finding that a hemagglutinin extracted from red kidney beans causes peripheral lymphocytes to transform in culture to mitotically active cells. Neither of these observations was one of those results that instantaneously illuminates great regions of darkness; rather they were germinal. There is a growing catalogue of agents that have been shown to effect the transformation of the small lymphocyte, a synthetically inactive cell almost entirely a nucleus with a thin rim of unspecialized cytoplasm, to a blast cell rich with cytoplasm vigorously synthesizing protein, ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid. These agents include plant agglutinins, antigens, antiglobulin antibodies, and allogeneic cells. In his book, Ling has sought to bring