Probing human malignant T cells with lectins: A comparison with their surface antigen patterns defined by monoclonal antibodies

Tumor cells from 40 children and 13 adults with T cell malignancies were assessed for staining with fluorescinated peanut agglutinin (PNA) and soybean agglutinin (SBA). These cell populations had also been characterized for surface antigens using a series of monoclonal antibodies (Mo. Ab.) that permit an assignment of malignant cells to discrete stages of normal T cell differentiation. We had previously shown a clear correspondence between lectin- and Mo. Ab.-defined cell compartments within thymuses from normal children and T cells in peripheral blood. We report here that the pattern of reactivity of malignant T cells populations with lectins correlates closely the degree of maturation, as assessed by Mo. Ab. Thus, utilization of lectins together with Mo. Ab., can be clinically useful to characterize T cell malignancies. This observation shows that, in spite of a high degree of heterogeneity of malignant T cell populations from one patient to the other, in their pattern of surface antigens, these populations seem essentially to conform to the scheme of normal T cell differentiation.