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Immunochemistry in Cancer Research^*

( Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey)

In host response to a foreign substance, antibodies are generally found in the circulation. This is generally regarded as the result of an immunological response, but this is only one manifestation of host defense. Because a number of basically different responses, each a part of the over-all defense mechanism, are possible in host-tumor relationships, it is operationally expedient to define immunological response as that response in which specific antibodies are produced even though it is not certain whether these antibodies have a direct bearing on host resistance. It is in the estimation of antibody response that immunochemistry can and does play an important role in cancer research. Moreover, because of the precise relationship between chemical constitution of an antigen and its immunological specificity, immunochemistry should also play a decisive role in the study of tumor-specific antigens, if any. Those reactions, which are the basis of immunochemistry and are applicable to problems in cancer research, have therefore been reviewed.

^* This is one of three papers presented at the Symposium on the "Current Status of Immunology in Cancer Research" at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Inc., held in Atlantic City, N.J., April 13–15, 1956. The other two papers by E. Witebsky and E. J. Eichwald, will be published in succeeding issues.