Cancer diagnostic test of Field and Caspary: Part II. A review and interpretation of the collected data

Tables are presented showing data collected to date on the clinical trials of the macrophage electrophoretic mobility test for cancer of Field and Caspary. Seven variations on the original technique are summarized. The original antigen used in these tests was the basic protein of CNS myelin. Four additional proteins have been shown to function in these tests in place of the basic protein. There appears not to be a strong immunological crossreaction between these proteins. This paper discusses a possible solution to the problem of why non-crossreactive proteins appear to crossreact when testing cancer patients with the macrophage electrophoretic mobility related tests. All lymphocytes in saline suspension without added protein will aggregate. This is prevented in normals by the addition of some proteins to the culture, but is not so prevented in cancer and other diseases. Aggregation results in lymphokine release that makes the macrophage electrophoretic mobility test and variants positive. Aggregation occurs in the first incubation step of these tests and this non-immunological aggregation is the underlying phenomenon detected rather than specific antigen recognition as has been heretofore presumed.