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Complement Deviation in Mouse Carcinoma. 
By J. O. WakeELIN Barratt, M.D., D.Sc. Lond., Director of Cancer Research 
Laboratory, University of Liverpool (Mrs. Sutton Timmis Memorial). 
(Communicated by Prof. C. 8. Sherrington, F.R.S.,—Received December 5, 
1910,—Read February 2, 1911.) 
A characteristic feature of malignant growths is the occurrence of degenera- 
tion, usually in the more central portions of the growth. It is therefore 
possible that antibodies might make their appearance in the blood plasma in 
respect of the dead material thus set free. The presence of such antibodies 
could be sought for in several ways, for example, by observing if any of the 
insoluble constituents of the tumour could be agglutinated or caused to dissolve, 
or any of the soluble constituents obtainable from the growth could be 
precipitated, by the blood serum of the host. There is, however, another way 
of testing for the production of such antibodies, namely, by observing if the 
serum when mixed with the tumour, or with a watery or alcoholic extract of 
the tumour, can fix complement. In this case the method followed is an 
application of the observation of Bordet,* that an immune serum contains a 
thermostable substance (amboceptor or immune body), which when mixed 
with the antigen which has been employed to determine its production is 
capable of absorbing complement. So far as I can ascertain from a search of 
the literature of complement deviation, no investigation on these lines has, up 
to the present, been made in connection with malignant growths. 
It was, therefore, decided to test for the presence of antibodies in respect 
of malignant growths, using in the first instance the method of complement 
fixation. For the purpose of investigation carcinoma of the mouse appeared 
exceedingly suitable, since it affords a condition which is readily producible 
and represents a single pathological entity, the same strain of tumour being 
inoculable from animal to animal so long as may be desired. Only under 
such circumstances is it possible to make a comparative series of observations 
under conditions of experiment which are throughout identical in respect of 
the tumour employed. 
These experiments fall into two groups: those in which complement of the 
rabbit or of man was employed; those in which the complement of the mouse 
was used. 
* “Ves Sérums Hémolytiques,” ‘Ann. de l’Inst. Pasteur,’ 1900, vol. 14, p. 257. 
