Ewing's sarcoma was described in 1921 by James Ewing as a diffuse endothelioma of bone and, for some time, was believed to be an undifferentiated type of Parker's sarcoma. At present, these two entities are thought to be distinct, the macroscopic and microscopic aspects of Ewing's sarcoma being very characteristic, although the exact cell type of this tumor remains unknown. This has lead many workers to study this sarcoma in order to recognize its origin. We thought it of interest to carry out cytogenetic investigations of our cases of Ewing's sarcoma, since very few chromosomal data on this malignancy exist in the literature [1-3].

CE/44 mouse teratocarcinoma and its sublines isolated at the Institut Pasteur were studied comparatively in 129/Sv, hybrid F1 129 X NCS, and NCS strains of male and female mice with respect to the age of the animals and the type of the tumor graft (ascitic or subcutaneous solid tumor). The tumors grow more quickly and with more malignant characteristics in female mice. The tumor "takes" and growth are equally good in the hybrid F1 as in 129/Sv mice, but its maintenance in hybrid F1 is not so stable, for a tumor loss and a lessening of differentiation could be seen through the passages in this strain. In the NCS strain the tumor grows very rarely. Interferon slowed the subcutaneous tumor growth and favored neuroepithelial tissue differentiation, but allowed selective growth of one cellular type, the "trophoblastic" one, which is very malignant, and which, in the ascitic tumor, caused death in female animals by a hemorrhagic syndrome.

Eight Ewing's sarcoma, primary tumor or metastasis, have been transplanted in Nude Rats. These tumors grow slowly and only in female rats. One of them has been maintained for 13 months with 5 passages. It has conserved all the characteristics of the primary tumor, histologic and ultramicroscopic morphology, glycogen secretion and cytogenetic modification (11.22 translocation). The graft of Ewing's sarcoma to Nu/Nu rats is a valuable system to get more material in good condition to study the nature and the origin of Ewing's cells, to test the new chemotherapy trials and to prepare and test the monoclonal antibodies.

The chromosomal analysis of four fresh Ewing tumours shows a translocation of the band q12 of the chromosome 22 in all the clones observed. This translocation seems to preferentially involve the band q24 of the chromosome 11. These results are in favour of a consistent translocation in Ewing's sarcoma, and are to be compared with the results obtained in other malignancies. A relation between this translocation and the location of the human oncogene c-sis on the chromosome 22 should be considered.

The level of α1FP has been evaluated in the sera of 155 children aged 1 month to 16 years with germ cell tumors. Abnormal α1FP levels were found in 63 cases.Reexamination of histological slides from more than 120 cases, in a double blind study has revealed a close connection between the presence of abnormal α1FP levels in the serum and the presence of vitelline components on the tissue sections: 54 yolk sac tumor out of 60 are α1FP positive (that is 90% and 100% in the acute phase), whatever the site: testis, ovary, vagina, sacrococcygeal, intra‐ or retro‐peritoneal region, mediastinum or intracranium.Immunohistological localization (immuno‐fluorescence and immuno‐peroxydase) was performed in this study.

AbstractA l'aide d'un antisérum marqué à l'iode 131, nous avons mis en évidence par radio‐immunodiffusion une protéine d'origine tissulaire, l'α2H, dans le sérum de 81% des enfants porteurs de tumeurs. Sur les 122 sérums d'enfants normaux ou atteints d'affections bénignes, 10 seulement étaient positifs soit 8%. L'intérět clinique de ce test est discuté.

AbstractIn a study of sera of 93 children bearing various malignant tumours, the authors were able to detect by an immunological test an enthryonal protein, α1 foeto‐protein or fetuin, in one testicular and four ovarian embryonal carcinomas.Children bearing tumours other than malignant teratomas, and control children, gave negative results (with one exception in a normal 3‐day‐old infant).Such an immunological test, therefore, appears to have some diagnostic and prog nostic value which deserves further investigation.

Immunoglobulin-producing cells and their synthesized immunoglobulins were studied by immunofluorescent techniques in 30 human pericancerous lymph nodes and 13 lymph nodes from control subjects. The production of immunoglobulins was found to be strongest in histologically active lymph nodes; however, some lymph nodes rich in follicles contained no immuno-globulin-producing cells. The amount of immunoglobulins produced appears to have no relation to the presence or absence of metastatic cells in the lymph nodes—the cells with immunoglobulins are not usually in contact with the cancer cells. The predominance of immunoglobulin A in pericancerous nodes is important because antibodies of this type do not fix the complement and are not likely to be cytotoxic. The immunoglobulins thus synthesized can react against cancer cells or the products of cellular metabolism. This last hypothesis seems most probable.