Prospects for the immunodiagnosis of ocular tumours

Amongst other properties, malignant neoplasms are characterized by having antigenic determinants not normally found in mature healthy tissue. Consequently an immune response is usual on the part of the host and in recent years interest has centred on the twin possibilities of putting this property to diagnostic and therapeutic use. In our own laboratory we have concentrated on the diagnostic potential of immunological techniques in the investigation of pigmented tumours of the uvea. We have found that not only malignant melanomata, but also many naevi, can provoke an immunological reaction and we have shown that this is directed largely against contractile elements in the cytoplasm. Such reactions, which are not strictly tumour-specific, may be a source of diagnostic confusion and need to be excluded if immunology is to be of value in distinguishing malignant lesions of the uveal melanocytes from innocuous naevi.