Tumour tissue from patients with inoperable cervical carcinoma was studied to determine the significance of humoral antibody involvement. Comparative elution studies using normal and cancerous tissues revealed that various classes of immunoglobulin and complement, either singly or in combination could only be recovered from the cancerous tissues. Some cancer tissue eluates possessed antibodies which sensitized normal lymphocytes by the cytotoxicity test suggesting the host's recognition of structural modification of the tumour cell. It is possible that the various classes of immunoglobulin found in cancer tissue eluates represent antibodies to cytoplasmic constituents, cell membranes or antigen-antibody complexes. It was found that the serum from the cancer patients possessed a significantly higher incidence of "non specific" lymphocytotoxic antibodies than the controls. Our inability to associate these antibodies with specificities for normal histocompatibility antigens suggests that this type of antibody may symbolize humoral responses towards a combination of tumour-related and normal transplantation antigens. It seems apparent that their activity is of an autoimmune nature capable of altering the in vivo functions of the cell-mediated immune mechanism.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.