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Tumor‐cell vaccination induces tumor dormancy in a murine model of B‐cell leukemia/lymphoma (BCL 1 )
Author(s) -
Morecki Shoshana,
Pugatsch Thea,
Levi Sarit,
Moshel Yana,
Slavin Shimon
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19960117)65:2<204::aid-ijc13>3.0.co;2-d
Subject(s) - adoptive cell transfer , immunity , biology , immune system , splenocyte , immunology , leukemia , lymphoma , minimal residual disease , cancer research , dormancy , t cell , botany , germination
Immunity to murine B‐cell leukemia/lymphoma (BCL 1 ) induced by multiple injections with irradiated tumor cells, prevented leukemia development in primary and adoptive transfer recipients despite long‐lasting persistence of residual tumor cells. Detection of dormant BCL 1 cells was carried out by PCR analysis using the V H ‐rearranged DNA sequence as a BCL 1 clonal marker. Dormant tumor cells were detected >250 days following immunity induction in 40% of spleens from healthy immune mice having no detectable symptoms of disease. Tumor dormancy was not abrogated by adoptive transfer of BCL 1 ‐containing splenocytes into syngeneic recipients, indicating that cell‐mediated anti‐tumor immunity contributes to maintenance of the tumor dormant state and prevents renewed tumor‐cell growth. Splenocytes but not sera from immune mice conferred specific radiosensitive protection from a lethal dose of BCL 1 cells included in cell mixtures transferred to secondary recipients. A therapeutic effect of transferred immune splenocytes was shown in BCL 1 ‐bearing mice, which remained disease‐free for >200 days after inoculation; nevertheless, dormant BCL 1 cells were detected by PCR analysis in some of the surviving mice. Our results suggest that an efficient tumor‐cell vaccine can lead to induction of tumor dormancy that can be maintained by a cell‐derived mechanism for a long period of time. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.