We have demonstrated that substituting an antibody for CD66acde for an antibody recognizing CD14 within a cocktail of antibodies to define lineage negative, MHC class II positive populations, i.e. putative circulating DC populations, yields population sizes of comparable magnitude across different gating strategies in baseline samples from normal donors and cancer patients prior to initiation of cytotoxic chemotherapy and hematopoetic growth factor support. This evidence concerns the gene CD14 and cancer.