[Improvement of specificity and reactivity of the leukocyte migration test for the diagnosis and follow-up care in stomach cancer].

The leukocyte migration assay proved to be a very sensitive tool in gastric cancer diagnosis. When patients' leukocytes were exposed to a panel of 3m KCl extracts, positive reactivity was found at a rate of 92%. All patients with non-malignant gastric diseases exhibiting "positive" reactivity with gastric tumor extracts also showed a pathological migration index with a 3m KCl extract of normal gastric mucosa, while only in 16% of patients with gastric cancer leukocyte migration was influenced by this extract. Using gastric tumor extracts patients with colorectal cancer showed a cross-reactivity in 67% and patients with carcinoma of the pancreas and oesophagus in 42% of the tests. Three months after curative surgery most patients' leukocyte migration was found to be in the normal range. Positive reactivity reappeared in patients with local recurrence or metastases.