[Critical study of immunological assessment in cancer patients (author's transl)]

Immunological assessment of cancer patients has been suggested following the hypothesis of immune surveillance in cancer proposed by Burnet. This short review demonstrates that this hypothesis has not been confirmed by experimental data, this discrepancy with Burnet's hypothesis raising doubts as to the value of immunological assessment in cancer. Critical analysis of the various tests used shows that no specific test is currently available and that the value of non-specific tests is questionable. Finally, the analysis of more than eight thousand tests showed that they are of little aid in diagnosis, prognosis, or prediction of relapse, but that these tests could be useful in the follow-up of immunomodulation. Nevertheless, the availability of analysis of lymphocyte subpopulations by monoclonal antibodies could prove to be a new tool in the follow-up of these patients.