Effects of Blood Taken from Patients with Neoplastic Disease on the Chick Embryo.

Summary and conclusion 1. Whole blood from 89 patients with neoplastic disease and 35 apparently normal control individuals was inoculated onto the chorioallantoic membrane of the 8-day chick embryo; 10 eggs were used for each sample. 2. In 35 controls the embryo mortality was 7% and the mortality did not exceed 3/10 eggs from any blood specimen. Of the 89 patients with neoplastic disease tested, the over-all embryo mortality was 16%, and in 14 instances more than 3/10 embryos died; 6 “toxic” bloods, however, were “non- toxic” on repeat examination. 3. This study failed to demonstrate the presence of a reproducible or a consistent factor in the blood of patients with neoplastic disease toxic to the 8-day chick embryo.