Host Response to Tumor-Associated Fetal Antigens: Kinetics and Components

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Using a colony-inhibition bioassay that measures the contribution of the host response in transplantation Immunity to tumor-associated fetal antigens (TAFA), I evaluated the occurrence of TAFA during different developmental stages of murine fetal liver cells. A maximum concentration ofTAFA was present at approximately 15 days' gestation. A similar age-equivalence phase of gestation was also found in pig fetal liver. Host-response kinetics to TAFA were examined, and results indicated a similar pattern of activity for tumor- or fetal-immunized groups with a transient immune suppression in the middle of the study period. I detected specific antibodies generated by tumor and fetal cell immunization by a complement-dependent serum microcytotoxicity assay. The specificity of the reaction was evaluated further by absorption studies that demonstrated specific crossreactive antibodies to fetal and tumor cell targets. Adoptive transplanted immunity to TAFA was indirectly evaluated by a modified Winn assay which indicated that a cellular immune mechanism was an important component of the host response to TAFA.