Inhibition of leucocyte migration in patients with large intestinal cancer by extracts prepared from large intestinal tumours and from normal colonic mucosa.

The degree of migration inhibition in response to tissue extracts has been examined in leucocyte preparations obtained from patients with large intestinal cancer and from age and sex matched control individuals. A greater degree of migration inhibition was observed in response to a colorectal tumour extract in cells obtained from the cancer patients. Inhibition also tended to be more marked in response to the tumour extract than in response to a normal colonic mucosal extract in these patients. These results suggest that altered cellular immune reactivity is demonstrable by this simple in vitro technique in patients with large intestinal cancer.