Abstract
Effects of the administration of γ-(9H-purine-6-yl)thiomethyl L-glutamate (6-MPG), a water-soluble derivative of 6-mercaptopurine, on concomitant and sinecomitant immunity against the implanted MethA tumor were studied in BALB/c mice. In the concomitant immunity experiments, mice were intradermally inoculated with 1×105MethA cells at the right inguinal region on day 0. In sinecomitant immunity experiments, mice were similarly inoculated on day -21, and the grown tumor was excised on day -11. Both the tumor-bearing and tumor-ectomized animals were re-inoculated with 3×106MethA cells intradermally at the left inguinal region on day 10. Administration of 6-MPG (100mg/kg, i.p.) on days 3 through 7 significantly inhibited growth of the re-inoculated tumor in both series of experiments. Cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, mitomycin C and cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) had no significant effect on the growth of the re-inoculated tumor in the tumor-ectomized mice. Spleen cells harvested from the 6-MPG-treated tumor-ectomized mice showed a strong tumor-neutralizing activity (Winn assay).
