Immunology is a rapidly developing subject. The contributors in this book present some components of immunological knowledge which relate to the present and the possible future practice of surgery. Aspects of cellular and humoral immunity necessary for understanding are described and considera tion given to the mechanisms underlying immunological diseases. Whilst the original interest in immune response was related to microbial resistance, the recent impetus to surgical immunology has been the resurgence of organ grafting. Separate sections of the book deal with clinical organ transplanta...

An immunological approach to the treatment of cancer has many theoretical features to commend it. There should be specificity, so that tumour cells alone are destroyed whilst normal tissues are unaffected. Provided the tumour is uni form and all of the cells have appropriate antigens, every malignant cell should be destroyed and even distant metastases dealt with. So far these speculative advantages are unfulfilled and the initial optimism that surrounded im munotherapy has not been sustained. Acceptance of the precepts of tumour im munology continues but these disappointing observations had...