Behavior of Total Serum Complement in Hodgkin’s Disease and Other Malignant Lymphomas

Abstract

Abstract Using the method of Mayer and collaborators for the determination of complement in the blood serum, 67 normal persons, 72 patients with Hodgkin’s disease, 28 with other types of lymphoma and 65 with cancer involvement of various organs were studied. Fifty-eight of 72 Hodgkin’s disease patients were found to have an elevated level of complement, 12 a normal level and 2 a below-normal level. Elevated levels were found also in patients with other lymphomas and cancer. An association between elevated complement, increased sedimentation level, decreased serum properdin, positive C-reactive protein and elevated beta globulin in the serum was noted. The conclusion reached is that an elevation of complement in the serum indicates that Hodgkin’s disease is in an active phase. As to the nature of the disease, the statistics assembled seem to give no clue.