Showing papers by "Hilary Koprowski published in 1977"

A new approach in specific, active immunotherapy.

Abstract: A vaccinia virus-lysed autochthonous tumor cell vaccine (vaccinia oncolysate) is introduced as a new specific, active immunotherapeutic agent against human cancer. Mouse experiments showed the vaccine to be a safe and potent immune mechanism stimulator. Human experimentation was undertaken in the knowledge of relative safety of the components of the vaccine, i.e. vaccinia vaccine and lysed, autochthonous tumor cells. Vaccine-treated patients had advanced metastatic cancer but reacted to one or more common recall antigen skin tests. None of the 13 patients had untoward responses; 7/13 patients had classic delayed hypersensitivity reactions at the vaccine injection sites; and 2/7 patients with injection site reactions had significant reduction in tumor burden. These results indicate that this vaccine is a specific, active immune mechanism stimulator, and may prove to be a useful therapeutic agent in the treatment of human cancer.

Persistence of virus-specific memory B cells in mice CNS.

Abstract: IMMUNOGLOBULIN (Ig) populations detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in chronic viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS) differ from serum Ig with regard to the relative concentration of antiviral antibodies1–4, their light chain ratio5 and their heterogeneity6,7 Such observations support the idea that antibodies are produced locally in the CNS8 But differences between CSF and serum Ig can also be explained in terms of the selective retention and accumulation of serum antibodies after passage across the blood–brain barrier9 Unequivocal proof of the local antibody production requires, however, that plasma cells, or their precursor cells, be isolated from the CNS Intracerebral inoculation of mice with 6/94, a para-influenza type 1 virus10, induces an immunologically mediated degeneration of the white matter which is related to infiltration of the brain parenchyma by mononuclear cells11,12 In the study reported here, cells recovered from the brains of virus-infected mice were investigated as described previously to analyse memory B cells reactive to influenza viruses13,14 Virus-reactive memory B cells, that is immunocompetent cells able to generate, on antigenic stimulation, a clone of antiviral-antibody-producing plasma cells, were demonstrated in the brains of mice injected intracerebrally with 6/94 virus but not in the brains of mice injected intraperitoneally

Ultrastructural study of concanavalin-A binding to the surface of preimplantation mouse embryos

Abstract: Receptors for Con-A were labelled (using the peroxidase-diaminobenzidine technique) on the plasma membrane of unfertilized and fertilized mouse eggs, cleavage stage embryos, trophoblast and inner cell mass (ICM) of the blastocyst. Embryos were exposed to Con-A concentrations of 10 microgram/ml, 50 microgram/ml, or 1,000 microgram/ml and the lowest concentration was observed to be the most suitable for discerning differences between stages of embryonic development. On the surface of unfertilized and fertilized eggs and 2-cell embryos, reaction product appeared as a thin, discontinuous layer. The surface of 4- and 16-cell stage embryos had a thicker, continuous, although non-uniform, layer of the reaction product. On the surface of the cells of the late morula, and on the trophoblastic cells of the blastocyst, clustering of reaction product was observed. Cells of ICM of intact blastocyst were free of the reaction product, showing that either Con-A and/or peroxidase cannot penetrate tight junctions between trophoblastic cells. Reaction product in the form of a thin, uniform layer covered the free surface of the cells of the ICM after they had been isolated (using immunosurgery) and exposed to 50 microgram/ml of Con-A. The amount and distribution of Con-A receptors is discussed, along with their redistribution and mobility in relation to the agglutinability of preimplantation mouse embryos.