Technicon H-1, an automated flow blood analyzer with determination of the leukocytic formula of cellular peroxidase activity for differentiated estimation, is used at the laboratory of N. N. Blokhin Cancer Research Center, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. Analysis of the incidence of changes in the basic and additional characteristics recorded by the device in analyses of peripheral blood from 76 hematological patients, mainly with hemoblastosis variants, showed that if the number of blast cells were up to 45%, the analyzer recorded from 3 to 7 additional "alarm" signals, and a "blast+" signal in approximately 52% of these; if the count of blast cells were over 45%, the signal "blast+" was shown by the analyzer in 100% cases. A peroxidase channel helps detect the lymphoid or myeloid trend of leukemic cell differentiation.

A Mab set was used to study immunological phenotype of lymphocytes of five patients bearing stage IV malignant melanoma and its changes developing in the course of interleukin-2 (Euro cetus) immunotherapy. Patients were shown to have lowered counts of T cells (mainly due to T-helper/inducers), B cells and lymphocytes expressing adhesion and activation molecules as well as abnormal immunoregulatory cell ratio. Two patients receiving interleukin-2 achieved a response. Follow-up of antigen expression revealed a rise in natural killer and immunoregulatory T lymphocyte levels in the responders whereas activation antigens and B cell levels were increased in all the patients.

The Hemalog D automatic cytochemical analyser was used to assess changes in the levels of neutrophil peroxidase and monocyte non-specific esterase in 194 cancer patients undergoing radiation and chemotherapy. Radiotherapy in the dose of 30-48 Gy did not affect functional activity of blood leukocytes. Combination chemotherapy induced moderate or severe leukopenia in 72.7% of cases. A decrease in the enzymatic activity of neutrophils and monocytes was observed in patients with normal and slightly decreased leukocyte counts. In patients with severe leukopenia, elevated levels of peroxidase and non-specific esterase in leukocytes were found.