Hand-mirror lymphocytes in infectious mononucleosis
WJ Thomas, K Yasaka, DM Strong, CM Woodruff, SA Stass and HR Schumacher
The identification of a morphologically unique lymphocyte in the peripheral
blood of patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) led to additional
studies. Examination of Wright-stained smears of EDTA anticoagulated blood
obtained from 25 patients with IM at presentation revealed significantly
increased (p less than 0.0001) percentages of hand-mirror lymphocytes (HML)
(mean 9.2%) compared with normal controls (mean 2.7%) or controls with
nonspecific viral syndromes (mean 2.2%). Follow-up blood samples obtained
on 10 of these patients demonstrated a marked increase in the HML count
(mean 12.1%) that coincided with the onset of recovery. E-rosette
separation of Ficoll-Hypaque-derived peripheral blood lymphocytes from 5
patients with early recovery IM showed the HML to be present almost
exclusively in the T-cell population, representing about 25% of the T
cells. Identical procedures on 5 controls showed less than 5% HML in the
T-cell sample. Cytochemistries supported a T-cell derivation for HML.
Electron microscopic examination of HML in IM demonstrated that these cells
have unique ultrastructural features that may be related to functions of
cellular attachment and cytotoxicity.
Volume 55,
Issue 6,
pp. 925-930,
06/01/1980
Copyright © 1980 by The American Society of Hematology
