INFLUENCE OF IMMUNE STATUS ON THE METASTASIS OF 3 MURINE FIBROSARCOMAS OF DIFFERENT IMMUNOGENICITIES

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  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 39  (10) , 3816-3821
Abstract
Three fibrosarcomas of different immunogenicities were tested for their ability to form spontaneous and experimentally induced metastases in normal, sham-suppressed, immunosuppressed and immunologically restored syngeneic mice. Immunosuppression, achieved by adult thymectomy and sublethal X-irradiation (450 R), affected experimental metastasis of the 3 tumors in different ways. Upon i.v. injection, the highly immunogenic fibrosarcoma formed more pulmonary tumor colonies in immunosuppressed mice than in normal, sham-suppressed (sham thymectomy and 450 R) or immunologically reconstituted animals (thymectomy, X-irradiation, plus 107 normal syngeneic lymphocytes given i.v.). A fibrosarcoma of intermediate immunogenicity also formed more pulmonary metasteses in immunosuppressed recipients, but this increase could not be reversed by reconstitution with 107 lymphocytes. In contrast, the least immunogenic tumor formed fewer pulmonary tumor colonies in immunosuppressed mice than in normal, sham-suppressed or immunologically reconstituted mice. The role of the immune system in experimental cancer metastasis varies for different tumors; tumor immunogenicity is an important factor in the relationship between host immunity and tumor dissemination.