Roswell Park Memorial Institute investigators are studying what they believe may be a correlation between the clinical stages of some leukemias and the finding of viruslike particles in patients' plasma.
Among questions raised in discussion of reported particle findings over approximately the last three years is whether they could be viruses.
In reporting the Buffalo, NY, study to the American Association for Cancer Research in Denver, Paul H. Levine, MD, noted that another unanswered question is: If the particles are viruses, are they etiologically related to human leukemia?
Dr. Levine, a liaison officer from the National Cancer Institute, said the study involved 90 persons, of whom 17 were younger than 15 years.
Seven were classified as healthy adults. Seven others had non-leukemic abnormalities of the blood or bone marrow. The remaining 76 had some form of leukemia.
Concentrated plasma pellets were processed from venous blood samples, Dr. Levine said. Ultra-thin