[Immunological studies in patients with carcinomas of the floor of the mouth and of the tonsils (author's transl)].

New insights into the cellular control mechanisms of immune reactivity may become important to physicians who manage patients with cancer. In 29 patients with tonsillar carcinoma, not only humoral, but also cellular mechanisms with major emphasis on regulator cells, i.e. suppressor cells, have been investigated. It seems from these cells, as if an unspecific suppressive activity measured in these patients could give a better opportunity to trace the immunological immune reaction against this tumor and give thus a chance for "specific immunotherapeutic regimens" which should on the one hand stress the activation of the host's tumor cytotoxicity and on the other hand eliminate the function of suppressor cells.