Evidence that electrophoretic-mobility (EM) test is of no value for the diagnosis of cancer in children
Lasson, U.; Scherer, G.; Müller-Ruchholtz, W.
Monatsschrift Kinderheilkunde Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Kinderheilkunde 129(3): 164-167
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0026-9298 PMID: 6112683 Document Number: 177978
After incubation with encephalitogenic factor (EF) the capacity of lymphocytes to inhibit the migration of tanned, stabilized sheep-erythrocytes in the electric field was tested in 133 children (52 tumor- and 81 control patients). Tumor patients (on and off treatment) as well as children suffering from non-inflammatory diseases showed a significant migration inhibition as compared with healthy controls (p less than 0.05). However, in only 3/23 patients on, and 3/35 off therapy, an unequivocal inhibition of more than 8% could be demonstrated. The repeated examination of 8 individual patients yielded an unsatisfactory reproducibility; results were independent of the EF concentration ranging between 200-600 microgram EF/ml. We think that the EM-Test provides no useful information for the detection of malignant disease in children.