Blood, 1950, Vol. 5, No. 8, pp. 732-741.
© 1950 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
CHANGES IN CIRCULATING LEUKOCYTES FOLLOWING THE ADMINISTRATION OF ADRENAL CORTEX EXTRACT (ACE) AND ADRENOCORTICOTROPIC HORMONE (ACTH) IN INFECTIOUS MONONUCLEOSIS
AND CHRONIC LYMPHATIC LEUKEMIA
RICHARD H. SAUNDERS JR. M.D.1 and
ELIJAH ADAMS M.D.1
1 Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.
Reduction in absolute numbers of circulating lymphocytes and eosinophils was
observed after administering 25 cc. intravenous doses of aqueous ACE to normal
adults. Such changes did not occur after a comparable intravenous dose of physiologic saline. Patients with infectious mononucleosis showed hematologic responses
to ACE and ACTH both qualitatively and quantitatively similar to those observed
in normal persons, while a small group of persons with chronic lymphatic leukemia
failed to respond with a characteristic fall in lymphocytes either after ACTH or
after doses of ACE twice as great as those effective in normal persons and in patients with infectious mononucleosis. A single individual with Addison’s disease
responded to 25 cc. of ACE by vein with a more prominent lymphocyte reduction
than was observed in any of the normal subjects studied. No changes in heterophile
antibody titers or titers of enteric agglutinins were noted in persons with infectious
mononucleosis or normal subjects within eight hours after the administration of
ACTH or aqueous ACE.
