Dameshek

Schwartz and Dameshek, in Tufts university, showed the benefical effects of 6 mercapto-purine on immuno-suppression, by doing an elegant experiment in the hamster. The hamsters were injected with tagged foreign albumin (bovine or human). The rate of elimination of the albumin was noted by assaying the radioactivity in the blood. Then the hamsters were given 6 mercaptopurine and the experiment repeated. The mercaptopurine resulted in presistance of the tracer in the hamsters blood. [SSD59]