Cell membrane associated antigens in chemical carcinogenesis.

Abstract

One of the most intriguing facets of neoplastic transformation, whether induced by chemical carcinogens or oncogenic viruses, is the expression at the surface membrane of the transformed cell of neoantigens which are not expressed on their normal cell counterparts, at least in the adult host. However, it is now over two decades since the first acceptable report on tumor-associated rejection antigens on 3-methylcholanthrene-induced murine sarcomas (Foley, 1953), and yet only relatively recently have significant advances been made in the study of the chemistry and biology of these tumor cell components. This is due to some extent to an initial reluctance to accept that the immunity elicited against transplanted tumor cells in highly inbred (syngeneic) animals was a tumor-specific phenomenon and was not due to weak alloantigen responses. Furthermore, only relatively recently has it been possible to detect and measure in vitro cell-mediated and humoral tumor-immune responses.