Failure to induce Transplantation Resistance against Polyoma Tumour Cells with Syngeneic Embryonic Tissues

Abstract

MANY tumours contain new transplantation antigens not present in the host tissue of animals in which they arise. This applies particularly to those tumours induced by certain oncogenic viruses and chemical carcinogens¹. It is not known whether the factor determining these antigens originates in new nucleic acid derived by viral infection or induced mutation or whether the antigens arise through some type of derepression of normal cellular genes. The latter hypothesis suggests that tumour and embryo may share antigens. Preliminary data² have shown that some of the so-called tumour-specific transplantation antigens of sarcomas induced by 3-methylcholanthrene may be found in embryomas, thus lending support to the derepression hypothesis.