Bone sarcomas: etiology and immunology.

The etiology of skeletal sarcomas is found in induced by viruses in man (as they are in exogenous agents (irradiation, oncornavirus) acting in a peculiar setting of host factors. Patients with skeletal sarcomas react immunologically to autologous and allogeneic sarcoma cells, but reactors can be found among the healthy persons with or without exposure to patients with sarcomas. Various modalities of immunotherapy are available to increase the patient's immune reactivities in general or to sarcoma cells in particular, but immunotherapy of skeletal sarcomas has not yet brought about clear-cut and substantial benefits in addition to or beyond the results of conventional treatment.