The invention provides a method to detect an abnormal condition or disease state by assessing a characteristic response pattern of responder cells to indicators contained in a biological fluid of a subject. A characteristic disease-associated pattern can be obtained by determining the response pattern of responder cells to that of bodily fluids or fractions thereof from subjects known to exhibit a particular abnormal condition optionally comparing said pattern to such pattern elicited by fluids or fractions from normal subjects and identifying elements that differ. The identified elements constitute a characteristic or differential pattern which can then be used to identify the presence or stage of a disease in a test subject.