Routine clinical application of the lymphocyte fluorescence polarization test for malignant disease.

The technique of Lymphocyte Fluorescence Polarization (LFP) can confirm or exclude the presence of malignant disease. The results from tests on a total of 566 subjects showed a false-positive rate of 3.8% and a false-negative rate of 2.2%. The LFP test has been used as an aid in the differential diagnosis of patients whose symptoms are not typical of primary or recurrent malignant disease. In over 40 such cases there has been total agreement between the LFP results and subsequent clinical or pathological investigations. The LFP Test has been used to monitor the response of cancer patients to various therapeutic regimes. Ovarian cancer patients giving negative LFP results after treatment with Cisplatin have been found free of disease at laparotomy, indicating that LFP may be an acceptable alternative to the surgical investigation. The LFP test has been shown to provide information of much value in the management of patients with malignant disease.

A clinical assessment of fluorescence polarisation changes in lymphocytes stimulated by phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) in malignant and benign diseases.

The modified double-zone SCM technique, developed in these laboratories as an in vitro test for cancer, is based on the differential response to PHA of lymphocytes harvested from two regions of a Ficoll-Triosil gradient. Lymphocyte responses are measured by changes in intracellular fluorescein fluorescence polarisation. We report its continued clinical evaluation in patients hospitalised with malignant and non-malignant diseases, including a blind trial of 78 patients with disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, breast and lung. Overall "false' negative and "false' positive rates from 336 blood samples were 1.8 and 3.3% respectively.