Potentiated immune responses after administration of aclacinomycin.

After the intraperitoneal injection of aclacinomycin into mice, a variety of immune responses were increased. The total plaque-forming spleen cell response to SRBC was higher in treated animals than in controls, in spite of an apparent cytotoxic effects on B cells. The aclacinomycin-sensitive cell is apparently a long-lived cell, surviving adult thymectomy. Delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions were also augmented in treated animals, particularly those bearing tumors. In adjuvant-treated mice, the injection of aclacinomycin augments the immune response still further. Such observations should be taken into account in the establishment of clinical protocols associating immunotherapy and chemotherapy.