Observations on the increasing malignancy of tumours on prolonged growth: the influence of immunological changes in the host.

Spontaneously occurring A-strain mouse mammary carcinomata were individually passaged, at equal intervals into separate groups of isogenic hosts. The tumours showed evidence of increasing autonomy as judged either by the decreasing host lymphoid hyperplasia they evoked, or their decreased killing time, as passaging continued. However, in general, no reduction was found in the ability of spleen cells from hosts bearing succeeding passages of the same tumour to induce a graft-versus-host reaction in (A × CBA)F(1) hybrid mice. It is therefore suggested that the increasing malignancy of the tumours studied was associated with a change in the tumour rather than increasing immunodepression in successive hosts.