A modified method of serum acid phenylphosphatase analysis is reported, which is more sensitive and specific for enzyme derived from nucleated cells, through the use of copper ion, which inhibits erythrocytic acid phosphatase. Benign disorders in either sex are related to a small but significant increase in the mean serum acid phosphatase activity compared with that of healthy volunteers. Widespread cancers of the female breast and prostate gland are frequently (72–74 per cent) associated with a significant augmentation of serum acid phosphatase activity, above that observed in benign diseases.

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This work was supported by research grant C 930-C 4,5 from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and by research grants from the Massachusetts Division of the American Cancer Society and the Institutional Research Grant to Boston University from the American Cancer Society.

Presented in part at the Annual Meeting, American Association for Cancer Research, San Francisco, California, April 15, 1955.

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