[Antibodies to Forssman antigen in patients with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract and breast]. / Antitela k antigenu Forssmana u bol'nykh rakom zheludochno-kishechnogo trakta i molochnoi zhelezy.

Blood sera of 103 normal persons, 104 patients with malignant and 33 patients with benign tumors of different sites, 28 patients with inflammatory diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract and female sexual organs were examined to demonstrate antibodies to Forssman's antigen (FA) by means of the microhemagglutination test with sheep red blood cells. It was established that reduction in the amount of antibodies to FA was the most characteristic for gastro-intestinal carcinomas and to a lesser degree for breast cancers and that it was sporadically encountered in normal persons with non-cancerous pathology. The number of patients with low titres of antibodies to FA increased as the cancerous process progressed.

[Sensitivity of the lymphocyte RNA-synthesizing system of patients with different malignant neoplasms to phytohemagglutinin and dexamethasone]. / Chuvstvitel'nost' RNK-sinteziruiushchei sistemy limfotsitov bol'nykh s razlichnymi zlokachestvennymi novoobrazovaniiami k fitogemaggliutininu i deksametazonu

RNA biosynthesis catalyzed with DNA-dependent RNA polymerase was demonstrated in the reconstructed system containing isolated lymphocyte nuclei, Mg2+ or Mn2+ salts, ammonium sulphate, in the presence of four nucleosidetriphosphates. Both the Mg2+ and Mn2+-dependent forms of this enzyme were revealed in the nuclei of normal lymphocytes and those of patients suffering from melanoma, carcinoma of the lung and sarcoma. The activities of both forms of RNA-polymerase were greater in the nuclei of the lymphocytes from sick individuals than in the normal analogues. DNA-dependent RNA-polymerase sensitivity to dexamethasone and PHA of the nuclei of lymphocytes obtained from patients with carcinoma of the lung, melanoma, and sarcoma was decreased in comparison with the normal.

[Somatic hybridization and oncogenesis: induction of tumors in mice by administration of mixtures of cells of the homologous organs and their hybrids]. / Somaticheskaia gibridizatsiia i onkogenez: induktsiia u myshei opukholei vvedeniem smesei kletok gomologichnykh organov i ikh gibridov

The 2 months old C57BL/6J mice were injected with the mixtures of kidney and spleen cells from mice of the same strain or of the same cells following the hybridization induced by Sendai virus. The tumours of liver, kidney and lymphoid system appeared in 25% of recipients within 12--14 months. The result obtained is predicted by the general theory of oncogenesis proposed early by L. B. Mekler.

Somatic hybridization and oncogenesis; (Mechanism of formation of malignant tumors and metastases by the action of antilymphocytic serum).

The results of experiments carried out to test some of the consequences of the earlier general theory of oncogenesis, according to which the malignant tumor cell can arise as a result of somatic hybridization of cells of different organ- and tissue-specificity, are described. In the first series a tumor induced by cellophane film, was grafted into syngeneic and allogeneic mice, and antilymphocytic serum (ALS) was then injected. Metastases occurred only in allogeneic recipients receiving ALS. It was thus shown that the ability of cells of this particular tumor to metastasize is not a property inherent in its cells but is acquired by them as a result of interaction with the recipient organism. In the second series it was shown by two immunological methods that the cells of metastases arising under these conditions contain tissue compatibility antigens of donor and recipient origin, i. e., that they are somatic hybridsmin the third series skin from individuals of another strain was grafted on to mice and ALS was injected; hepatomas developed in 74% of these mice. The theory is used to explain several phenomena of carcinogenesis not explicable by other theories: the phenotypic nature of cell transformation, the causes and nature of the duration of the latent period of tumor development, the mechanism responsible for the ability of tumors to overcome the system of immunological defense, the mechanism of activation of endogeneous oncogenic viruses, etc. Finally an answer is given to the question: what is a tumor?