Abstract
Spleen cells collected from mice bearing transplanted chemically induced syngeneic fibrosarcomas non-specifically inhibited DNA synthesis of sarcoma and lymphoma target cells in vitro. Splenocytes from mice hyper-immunized against a syngeneic sarcoma specifically inhibited DNA synthesis of the tumour used for immunization. The impairment of tumour-cell DNA synthesis was associated in vitro with cytostasis, and lysis of the target cells was not seen. Since treatment with anti-theta serum and complement did not impair cytostatic action of the spleen cells, and since thymus-deprived animals showed similar activity to normal mice, T lymphocytes were not involved in non-specific cytostasis. Removal of phagocytic adherent cells by carbonyl iron markedly inhibited the cytostatic activity of the spleen cells, suggesting a role in this reaction for cells of the monocyte-macrophage series. The presence of an actively growing sarcoma was a prerequisite for the expression of non-specific cytostasis, since surgical excision resulted in complete disappearance of this activity of spleen cells.
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Mantovani, A., Evans, R. & Alexander, P. Non-specific cytotoxicity of spleen cells in mice bearing transplanted chemically induced fibrosarcomas. Br J Cancer 36, 35–40 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1977.151
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1977.151