An
in vitro system for the quantitative study of cell-mediated immune reaction was established. Lymphocytic cells were fractionated from peritoneal exudate cells of Donryu rats, which had been immunized against Yoshida sarcoma, and the cytocidal effect of the peritoneal lymphocytic cells on the target Yoshida sarcoma cells was studied quantitatively
in vitro, usually with 10
7 lymphocytic cells and 3-4×105 tumor cell sincubated in 1ml Eagle's medium containig heat-inactivated normal rat serum.
1) The cytocidal activity of lymphocytic cells was directly related to the extent of immunization of the donor animals. Lymphocytic cells obtained from the donor animals which had been immunized with as much as 10
8 tumor cells destroyed more than 90% of tumor cells within 7 hours of culture, suggesting this cytocidal reaction proceeds very rapidly. The cytocidal effect of sensitized peritoneal lymphocytic cells on the target tumor cells was also expressed as a function of dosage of lymphocytic cells used in the culture.
2) After one hour of culture a significant number of lymphocytic cells in a sensitized peritoneal lymphocytic cell population adhered to the tumor cells, and the percentage of tumor cells with adhering lymphocytic cells was related to the cytocidal activity of the sensitized lymphocytic cell population. The percentage of lymphocytic cells capable of adhering to tumor cells was found to be less than 10% of the total number of the sensitized peritoneal lymphocytic cells even if the sensitized lymphocytic cells were obtained from the highly immunized donor animals.
3) Continuous observation of the destruction of a tumor cell by the attacking lymphocytic cells showed that usually a tumor cell with 2 to 3 sensitized lymphocytic cells adhering to it was destroyed within a few hours of culture with a morphological change of the tumor cell membrane, karyorrehexis, pyknosis, and fragmentation of the cell.
View full abstract