Reduced Tocopherol Content of B Cells From Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

The tocopherol content of lymphocytes, erythrocytes. and plasma from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLI). hairy cell leukemia (HCI), and normal subjects was measured by a sensitive high performance liquid chromato- graphic method. Lymphocytes from patients with CLI had lower values of tocopherol (1 .7 ± 1 .0 �sg/10� cells) than lymphocytes from normal subjects (3.8 ± 0.7 �sg/109 cells). Mononuclear cells from patients with HCL had an increased T OCOPHEROL FUNCTIONS as an antioxidant protecting unsaturated fatty acids from oxida- tion. In the plasma membrane, tocopherol and choles- terol are thought to be intercalated between the phos- pholipid fatty acids within the lipid bilayer.' Since several studies have shown a decreased cholesterol content in lymphocytes from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and high levels of choles- terol in hairy cell leukemia (HCL),2'3 we decided to measure the tocopherol levels in these cells to deter- mine whether they paralleled the cholesterol content. The results of this analysis were compared to the tocopherol levels in T- and B-cell subpopulations obtained from normal subjects and patients with