IMMUNE RESPONSES OF THE MICE BEARING TUMOR INDUCED BY DMBA(9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-Benzanthracene)

This study was undertaken to evaluate the immune responses to sheep red blood cell (SRBC) and potential anti-tumor effect of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) in the mice bearing rumor induced by DMBA. The frequencies of tumor appearances were 62% in DMBA-treated mice and 14% in DMBA and BCG-treated group, respectively. Cellular immune response such as delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) to SRBCs, natural killer (NK) cell activity and antigen-binding cell (ABC) assay were decreased apparently in the tumor bearing mice compared to the normal controls. Humoral immune responses such as hemagglutinin (HA) and hemolysin (HE) were noted to be reduced in the tumor bearing mice, but the spleen index increased in tumor bearing mice. All the immunological parameters in the DMBA and BCG-group appeared to be higher than those of only DMBA-treated group. These results indicated that DMBA-induced tumor suppressed host immune responses. Also, they imply the idea that BCG enhanced the immune responses of tumor-bearing host and antitumor effects.