Show I Are Friend Or I Most people think of antibodies as the special molecules In the bloodstream that help to fight Vaccines against polio or against tetanus for work because they stimulate the production of IN THE last three research has revealed another aspect of antibody It looks now as if some antibodies actually interfere with the attempt of the body to eliminate foreign Scientists at The Salk in San are actively pursuing the possibility that the blocking activity of such antibodies may explain why tumors grow unchecked and may even allow doctors to protect transplanted It has long been known that mere are two torms of response that the body usually maVes ib an of foreign molecules or One consists primarily of the which recognize foreign material and initiate the reactions that lead to its THE OTHER consists of certain white blood cells that perform the same although in a manner that is less well In 1969 it was reported that the white-blood-cell response to tumors in by itself sufficient to kill the could be blocked if serum from the host animal was Clearly something in the serum was blocking the immune but FURTHER TESTS showed that the substance was quite specific to the tumors and that it had some of the physical characteristics of These results were obtained in test-tube it is thought but not yet proved that this same blocking reaction also occurs in the whole permitting tumors to PERHAPS THE blocking factor is an one that can recognize and bind to the foreign material but for some reason is unable to set the subsequent destructive steps into Or perhaps it combination of antibody jB something a that interferes with the blood cells In some other No one can yet say for suH Whatever the an new frontier of jH has been up-a realization that the mune system has many and that they react with one complex of a series provided The Salk San to improve public'S of |