Studies on the Anemia of Tumor-Bearing Animals. II. The Mechanism of Erythrocyte Destruction2

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Abstract
When Cr51-labeled erythrocytes were transfused into rats bearing Lymphosarcoma R2788, the tagged erythrocytes disappeared more rapidly than in normal rats. Nearly all the radiochromium which disappeared from the blood stream was recovered in the tumor. Since radiochromate binds to globin in the red cell, the presence of noncirculating Cr51 in the tumor suggests that the protein moiety of hemoglobin, as well as the iron moiety, was deposited in the tumor. When Cr51-tagged erythrocytes were lysed and then injected very slowly into tumor-bearing animals, the radiochromium disappeared very rapidly from the blood stream and was not deposited in the tumor but was recovered in the liver, spleen, kidneys, and urine. It is concluded that the erythrocyte iron did not enter the tumor by a process of intravascular hemolysis, followed with uptake of released hemoglobin by viable tumor cells, but entered the tumor in the intact red cell. These conclusions suggest that vascular injury may be a major factor in the pathogenesis of the erythrocyte destruction observed in the tumor-bearing animals.