Evaluation of micro-leukocyte adherence inhibition as an immunodiagnostic test for pancreatic cancer.

Abstract

Carcinoma of the pancreas is the fifth most lethal cancer in humans. Its almost uniform mortality rate is largely related to the rarity with which a diagnosis is established early in the course of the disease. In this study, we have evaluated the leukocyte adherence inhibition (LAI) assay as a specific immunodiagnostic test for the presence of pancreatic cancer. One hundred thirty micro-LAI assays were performed on 104 individuals that included 23 pancreatic carcinoma patients, 29 patients with benign disease (14 with acute pancreatitis), 26 patients with nonpancreatic gastrointestinal cancers, and 25 normal healthy volunteers. Using an LAI index of ≤0.20 as a cut-off value, 19 of 23 patients with pancreatic cancer had a positive test result in the micro-LAI assay. In contrast, 3 of 81 control patients also gave a positive test result. The LAI response of the pancreatic carcinoma patients appeared to be immunologically specific inasmuch as the leukocytes of these patients did not respond to a control colon carcinoma tumor extract. Thus, the micro-LAI assay is able to detect specifically pancreatic cancer and to discriminate between pancreatic cancer, acute pancreatitis, other forms of cancer, and the normal state. While these results suggest an immunodiagnostic potential for the micro-LAI assay in pancreatic cancer, this potential can be realized only after a much larger number of patients are evaluated and concomitant technological improvements are made in the assay that will result in a more standardized response.