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On the Mode of Action of BCG

Abstract

BACILLUS Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is of considerable value as a non-specific adjuvant in the immunotherapy of neoplasia1–6. Although the striking preponderance of macrophages at the site of rejection elicited by intralesional BCG is support for their function as effector cells, we present evidence here for an additional role of the macrophage. Under the influence of systemically (intravenously) administered BCG, macrophages markedly stimulated thymus-derived (T) killer cells involved in lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity (cell-mediated immunity, CMI) in vitro.

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MITCHELL, M., KIRKPATRICK, D., MOKYR, M. et al. On the Mode of Action of BCG. Nature New Biology 243, 216–218 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio243216a0

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