Mode of action of polyethylene glycol 6000 in potentiating the in vitro generation of antitumor cytotoxicity by MOPC-315 tumor bearer spleen cells.

Some of the possible mechanisms by which polyethylene glycol (PEG) augments the ability of MOPC-315 tumor bearer spleen cells to mediate in vitro antitumor cytotoxicity were evaluated. The level of antitumor cytotoxicity obtained in 5-day cultures of tumor bearer spleen cell suspensions correlated inversely with the percentage of Trinitrophenol (TNP)-rosettable cells (presumably metastatic tumor cells) present in the spleen. The kinetics of decrease in the percentage of TNP-rosettable cells coincided with the appearance of antitumor cytotoxicity. In addition, PEG was shown to interfere with the ability of viable tumor cells to suppress the in vitro generation of antitumor cytotoxicity in normal spleen cells cultured with mitomycin C-treated tumor cells. However, the decrease in the content of TNP-rosettable cells and the concurrent increase in the level of antitumor cytotoxicity were not due to direct cytotoxic and/or cytostatic effects of PEG on tumor cells. Spleen cells cultured in the presence of PEG had an increased rate of [3H]thymidine incorporation and proliferation compared to spleen cells cultured in the absence of PEG. However, the PEG-induced decrease in the percentage of TNP-rosettable cells either preceded or occurred at the same time that the PEG-induced increase in spleen cell number was observed. Therefore, spleen cell proliferation can at best explain only partially the PEG-induced decrease in the content of TNP-rosettable cells, and other mechanisms for the decrease must be considered.