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Abstract A colony inhibition technique was used to demonstrate immune reactions mediated by peripheral blood lymphocytes against tumor‐associated (specific?) antigens of human neuroblastomas. Lymphocytes from all of 11 patients carrying actively growing neuroblastomas, as well as lymphocytes from all of 11 patients who were clinically symptomfree after therapy for neuroblastomas, inhibited colony formation of plated neuroblastoma cells. They did not inhibit normal skin fibroblasts derived from the same patients as the tumor cells. A specific colony inhibition of neuroblastoma cells was also seen with lymphocytes from 12 of 16 mothers of children with neuroblastomas and with lymphocytes from some fathers and siblings of such patients. No specific inhibition of neuroblastoma cell colony formation was seen with lymphocytes from patients not having neuroblastomas or from healthy subjects. Serum from six of six patients with progressively growing neuroblastomas, but from none of four patients who were clinically symptom‐free after treatment for such tumors, could block lymphocyte‐mediated colony inhibition of plated neuroblastoma cells. It is suggested that the former sera contained antibodies which could mediate an efferent form of immunological enhancement.
Hellström et al. (Tue,) studied this question.