Immunological aspects of gynecological malignancies

The intricate aspects of cell mediated immunity in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the cervis and adenocarcinoma of the ovary are demonstrated with an in vitro system. Presensitized lymphocytes from patients with these two gynecologic malignancies demonstrated immediate cytocidal effects on analogous tumor cells in culture. This was not true of lymphocytes from normal health individuals. Some cross-reactivity between surface antigens in fetal gut cells and malignant epithelial cells is suggested by other experiments. These studies are used to formulate a hypothesis that tumor associated antigens do exist in gynecological malignancies.