CELLULAR LOCALIZATION OF IMMUNOGLOBULIN WITHIN HUMAN MALIGNANT MELANOMATA

Summary.-The presence of antibody in patients with malignant melanoma is well established if one examines the serum. In this report we have attempted to identify antibody within solid tumours showing that they are rarely present in any appreciable quantity on the surface of tumour cells but can be seen frequently on a number of different types of host cell within the tumours. This is discussed in the light of the role of antibody in the circulation and the possibility of antibody behaving as a blocking factor in vivo. ANTI-TUMOUR antibodies have been re-ported in the serum of patients with a wide variety of malignancies (Nairn, 1974; Mastrangelo, Laucius and Outzen, 1974). A definitive role, however, has not been estab-lished for such antibodies, although it has been postulated that they might consti-tute a powerful mechanism for protectin