[Leukocyte adherence inhibition test in tumor patients]

The leukocytes from cancer patients lose the capacity to adhere themselves to the tube glass surface when they are incubated with antigenic extracts of neoplasms of the same histologic type, as observed employing the leukocyte adherence inhibition (LAI) test. The authors confirm that the LAI test is organ-specific when primary tumors are employed as a source of antigens. Contrarily, the LAI test does not give a useful diagnostic information when antigens from metastases are employed. On the other hand, the practice of cell counts at 20 minutes intervals, shows that we are not dealing with a true adherence inhibition, but with a massive initial adherence of the leukocytes to the glass surface, followed by the further detachment of the cells. The phenomenon depends on cell concentration and it is not observed when less than 1000 leukocytes mm2 are used.