Detection of biological activity in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with central nervous system tumors.

Tumor markers for brain tumors are important for initial diagnosis and monitoring of treatment. We used a modification of the phagokinetic track assay, which measures the migration of cells across a coverslip that is coated with colloidal gold, to assess whether the CSF from patients with brain tumors and other non-neoplastic neurological disorders altered the migration of Balb/c 3T3 fibroblasts. We found that CSF from patients with brain tumors stimulated the migration activity at a significantly higher level than did CSF from patients without tumors (mean migration activity: 65 +/- 9% for CSF from 113 patients with brain tumors; 14 +/- 4% for 44 patients with non-neoplastic CNS disease; and 9 +/- 1.2% for 54 patients with metabolic or other disorders). Thus the ability of CSF to stimulate migration of 3T3 cells appears to be a promising approach to detecting, understanding and following the activity of brain tumors.