Successful tumour immunotherapy: possible role of antibodies to anti-inflammatory factors produced by neoplasms.

Phenol-saline tumour extracts, active in the immunotherapy of bovine ocular squamous cell carcinoma (BOSCC), were used to immunize mice. The immunized mice became resistant to the depression of delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions by products of BOSCC cells or cultured mouse or rat tumour cells. They also showed partial resistance to the growth of an unrelated tumour. Monoclonal antibodies to a type C retrovirus protein, p15E, also induced resistance to the depression of DTH by products of BOSCC and mouse tumours. It is suggested that successful immunotherapy of BOSCC is associated with the induction of resistance to anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive tumour cell products, allowing the operation of host defences, and that these products share antigenic determinants with a retrovirus protein.