[15 years' cancer research at the Department of Cancer Biology and Biochemistry]

This work makes a brief summary of the scientific research carried out during the last fifteen years (1968-1982) in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry of Cancer (AISN, Department of Health and Consumption), identified with the Coordinated Center of Oncological Biochemistry of the CSIC (Department of Education and Science), with the valuable help of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) the first five years 1968-1972), and of the Scientific Foundation of the AECC the following ten years (1973-1982). A brief mention of the research work carried out between 1945 and 1967 is made before referring to the work done between 1968-1982. The researchers of the Department have done important studies in the fields of biochemistry, molecular biology, virology and immunology of cancer. They described for the first time the existence of immunological processes in ontogenic evolution and cell differentiation; the transfection with DNA from several kinds of tumors, including a mouse sarcoma induced by 20-methylcholanthrene (now 3-methylcholanthrene) and a human lung carcinoma; the evolution of the humoral immunological response in SWR and AKR mice along the whole life; the isolation of a polytumoral DNA virus; the carcinogenic activity of viral DNA; the establishment of a virus-transformed cell line "in vitro", the incorporation of the viral genome to the cell genome; the reverse transcription; the antiblastogram, an "in vitro" predictive assay of anti-cancer chemotherapy agents; and the isolation of tumor-specific and tumor-associated antigens.