THE LYMPHOCYTE IN NATURAL AND INDUCED RESISTANCE TO TRANSPLANTED CANCER

Abstract

The refractory state to transplanted cancer, induced by the subcutaneous injection of defibrinated blood, is accompanied in every case by a definite lymphoid crisis in the blood. The rise of lymphocytes is not present during the interval between the immunizing injection and the cancer inoculation but comes on sharply within twenty-four hours of the introduction of the cancer graft. In control animals where the graft leads to a definite take there is no such lymphoid response, but in instances of natural immunity the phenomenon is similar to that seen in artificially induced immunity, though the period of rise is often delayed for several days or a week. The lymphoid crisis is not merely an accompanying factor in the immune period; it is essential to the process. This is demonstrated by the fact that destruction of the lymphocytes by x-ray is accompanied by the loss of natural or induced resistance to the growth of inoculated cancer. The polymorphonuclear cells show a tendency to increase in the animals with growing tumors, but further study will be necessary before any conclusions regarding them can be drawn.