A New Look at the Relationship of the Immune System to Neoplasia

摘要: The participation of specific immune effectors in the surveillance and controls spontaneously arising neoplasia has been an important hypothesis for many years. unique appeal this to cellular immunologists came from observation continuous systematic rejection altered body cells by cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Soon apparent, however, was disconcerting that congenitally immunodeficient athymic nude mice, which lack functional cells, had no greater incidence primary spontaneous, virally or chemically induced than normal mice1. It is context discovery natural killer (NK) are present both thymus-deficient renewed hopes immunological might be a real phenomenon.2 Natural minor population lymphoid capable lysing variety transformed virus-infected apparently without requiring prior exposure antigens.3 Recently it discovered NK can activated interferons also interleukin 2, leading establishment vitro cell clones4,5 could used directly test play role immunosurveillance neoplasia.6