Defective monocyte function in patients with genitourinary carcinoma.

An assay allowing quantitation of monocyte function, i.e., chemotaxis, was used to study the activity of monocytes in patients with neoplasms of the urinary tract. Twenty-four subjects with various stages of renal carcinoma exhibited a mean chemotactic defect of 34% (P less than 0.005) as compared to normal controls and patients hospitalized with nonneoplastic diseases. Twelve persons with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder had a 29.8% (P less than 0.01) mean chemotactic defect as compared to the controls. There was no correlation between tumor stage and degree of chemotactic defect;--J Natl Cancer Inst 55: 1047-1054, 1975.