IMMUNE SUPPRESSION IN BALB-C MICE BEARING THE PLASMACYTOMA TEPC-183 - EVIDENCE FOR NORMAL LYMPHOCYTE BUT DEFECTIVE MACROPHAGE FUNCTION

This paper analyses impairment of the primary immune response of mice bearing the plasmacytoma TEPC‐183. Healthy animals and mice bearing the reported non‐immunosuppressive tumour MOPC‐104E were used as controls. The defect was shown to affect both primary IgG and IgM responses to chicken cells (CRBC) and to be related to tumour size. However, the primary immune depression could be overcome either by increasing the antigen dose or by using Freund's complete adjuvant together with antigen. Secondary responses were also depressed. This depression was more pronounced if the animals was primed after, rather than before, tumour implantation. Further studies involved the measurement of primary immune responses of immunologically deprived syngeneic mice, after they had been reconstituted with cells from normal or tumour‐bearing mice. Lymphocyte reconstitution experiments were carried out in mice which had been irradiated with 950R. Various lymphoid preparations from TEPC‐183‐bearing mice were as effective as those from healthy controls in reconstituting primary immune responses. When mice were deprived of macrophage function by the method of Gorczynsky et al. (1971) using large doses of horse red cells macrophage preparations from normal mice were able to partially restore primary immune responsiveness. However, macrophages from TEPC‐183‐bearing mice were unable to bring about such restoration. It is concluded that the impairment of the primary immune response of mice bearing the plasmacytoma TEPC‐183 is due to a macrophage, rather than a lymphocyte, abnormality. However, none of these transfer studies suggested that positive suppression of primary immune responses was being mediated by cells from TEPC‐183‐bearing mice. Copyright © 1979 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company