Measurement of H-2 antigen and immunogenicity of methylcholanthrene-induced murine sarcomas.

For each of a set of 11 methylcholanthrene-induced sarcomas of B10 mice, we measured the amount of H-2 antigen by absorption of a specific antiserum, and the strength of the tumour-specific transplantation antigen by a transplantation assay, to see whether they are correlated. No obvious correlation was seen. We showed that cell suspensions of tumours taken directly from the animal are contaminated by host cells which make a substantial contribution in H-2 assays. Since this contamination was lost after several passages in vitro, the amount of H-2 on tumour cells was assayed only after such passages.