Lymphokine-activated tumor inhibition in mice. Ability of a nonapeptide of the human IL-1 beta to recruit anti-tumor reactivity in recipient mice.

The ability of the VQGEESNDK synthetic peptide corresponding to fragment 163-171 of human IL-1 beta to trigger lymphokine-activated tumor inhibition (LATI) of a poorly immunogenic fibrosarcoma (CE-2) of BALB/c mice was compared to that of the whole IL-1 beta. Neither molecule inhibits in vitro proliferation of CE-2 cells. Administration at the tumor challenge site for 10 days of daily injections of 50 micrograms of peptide 163-171 induce a consistent, although limited, inhibition of tumor growth, whereas similar injections of 1 pg of IL-1 beta induced a more marked LATI. However, strong LATI was elicited when these injections were performed in mice challenged with tumor cells admixed at 1/10 cell ratio with nonreactive lymphocytes from CE-2-bearing mice. The L3T4+ lymphocyte subset is mainly responsible for this enhancement. This reaction is abolished when recipient mice are sub-lethally irradiated, treated with cyclosporin A, or when the reactivity of L3T4+ and asialo GM1+ cells is suppressed. A similarly efficient LATI is found on combining the daily peptide injections with that of 10 U of IL-2. LATI stemming from this association, too, is abolished when mice are irradiated or treated with anti-L3T4 antibody, whereas it is not affected by cyclosporin A or anti-asialo GM1 antibody. Finally, a tumor-specific immune memory is acquired by about 50% of mice after LATI induced by IL-1 beta or 163-171 peptide alone and by about 80% of mice after LATI induced by peptide and lymphocytes from tumor-bearing mice or peptide and IL-2. These findings could lead to the building of a molecularly defined system to induce efficient immune recognition of tumor cells by using a peptide that does not cause any of the several inflammation-associated changes induced by the whole IL-1 beta.