Comparative studies of the growth promoting effects of ascitic or pleural effusion from patients with malignant tumors, human serum and fetal calf serum on human cells cultured in vitro.

Twelve specimens of ascitic and pleural effusion (APE) from patients with malignant diseases were examined quantitatively for growth promoting effect on three human cell lines and one human cell strain, by four different assay procedures. Simultaneously, healthy human serum (HS) and fetal calf serum (FCS) were also examined for comparison. When the activity per mg protein of the test specimen was evaluated, the value of APE on an average was somewhat greater than that of HS in three out of four different assays, although FCS gave a higher average value than either APE or HS did in two of the three assays. However, a portion of APE specimens were found to have a unique promoting activity responsible for increase in number of cell colonies.