Effects of murine tumors on delayed hypersensitivity to dinitrochlorobenzene. I. Description of anergy caused by transplanted tumors.

In the murine model presented for tumor-associated immune suppression, normal BALB/c mice displayed significant foodpad swelling when sensitized on the flank with 2 mg dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and challenged in a footpad with 0.05 mg DNCB 10 days later. This reaction in challenged footpads seemed to be a classic delayed hypersensitivity reaction, since it took 24 hours to develop and included an extensive mononuclear infiltrate. The reaction was transmissible from sensitized to normal mice by the transfer of lymphoid cells but not to serum. When sensitized 10 days after tumor inoculation, mice bearing either an allogeneic melanoma or a syngeneic lymphoma or fibrosarcoma did not demonstrate delayed hypersensitivity to DNCB.