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.