An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2024 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

16061 entries, 14144 authors and 1947 subjects. Updated: December 10, 2024

BILLINGHAM, Rupert Everett

4 entries
  • 13595

The technique of free skin grafting in mammals.

J. Exp. Biol., 28, 385-402, 1951.

This "paper facilitated the later discovery of `actively acquired tolerance' and the definition of the principal laws of transplantation tolerance. Thus, it was in a series of classic experiments (stemming from this J. Exp. Biol. paper) that the field of transplantation biology was born....
This "paper is a self-contained manual for distinct forms of skin transplants in a variety of laboratory animals. There are very detailed discussions and illustrations concerning the anatomy of the mammalian integument. Importantly, the paper also provides unique information on regional variation of skin within a given animal and on the process of transplant survival or rejection. Specific discussions focus on principles of wound healing post-transplantation and on Billingham and Medawar's formative thoughts on transplantation immunity. The paper is most useful in discussing frankly the pros and cons of skin grafting as a laboratory procedure. There is considerable discussion of the pitfalls encountered in skin grafting, e.g. pigmentation and hair growth, but also the advantages, e.g. accessibility and availability for biopsy" (Santa Jeremy Ono, "The birth of transplantation immunology: The Billingham-Medawar Experiments at Birmingham University and University College London" (J. Exp. Biol, 207 (2004) 4013-4014). Digital facsimile of the 1951 paper from cob.silverchair-cdn.com at this link.

In 1960 Medawar shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Burnet for "the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance."  See also Nos. 2578.4, 2578.11, 2578.12, and 2578.24.



Subjects: IMMUNOLOGY, NOBEL PRIZES › Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine , TRANSPLANTATION, TRANSPLANTATION › Skin Grafting
  • 2578.11

‘Actively acquired tolerance’ of foreign cells.

Nature (Lond.), 172, 603- 06, 1953.

Proof of Burnet and Fenner’s theory of immunity. For their discovery of acquired immunological tolerance Medawar and Burnet (No. 2578.7) shared the Nobel Prize in 1960.



Subjects: IMMUNOLOGY › Immunization
  • 2578.12

Quantitative studies on tissue transplantation immunity. I. The survival times of skin homografts exchanged between members of different inbred strains of mice. II. The origin, strength and duration of actively and adoptively acquired immunity.

Proc. roy. Soc. B, 143, 43-80, 1954.

Experimental production of immunological tolerance by Billingham and colleagues.Paper II distinguished adoptive from passive immunization. E. M. Sparrow was a co-author of paper I.



Subjects: IMMUNOLOGY › Immunization, TRANSPLANTATION, TRANSPLANTATION › Skin Grafting
  • 13526

Quantitative studies of tissue transplantation immunity. IV. Induction of tolerance in newborn mice and studies on the phenomenon of Runt Disease.

Phil. Trans. B., 242, 439-477, 1959.

First description of what became known as Graft-versus-host disease (GvDH). This the authors initially called "graft against host (GAH)." The authors cited three conditions, later known as the Billingham criteria, which must be met for GvHD to occur:

  • 'An immuno-competent graft is administered, with viable and functional immune cells.
  • The recipient is immunologically different from the donor – histo-incompatible.
  • The recipient is immunocompromised and therefore cannot destroy or inactivate the transplanted cells." (Wikipedia article on Graft-versus-host-disease, accessed 8-2021).
(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)


Subjects: IMMUNOLOGY, TRANSPLANTATION