Immunity to transplantable nitrosourea-induced neurogenic tumors. I. Potentiation of tumor immunity with Corynebacterium parvum.

Various injection schedules of C. parvum and tumor cells of the nitrosourea-induced malignant neurinoma, TR-481, were used to induce tumor immunity in syngeneic CDF rats. Although subcutaneous injection of the poorly immunogenic TR-481 cells alone or with C. parvum caused retardation of growth of 2 x 10(5) TR-481 cells injected 1-3 weeks later, no significant difference in tumor size or incidence was obtained, as judged by tumor growth at 8 weeks. In contrast, injection of TR-481 with C. parvum into C. parvum-presensitized rats caused a more significant degree of tumor immunity with complete inhibition of the challenge tumor growth in 17-33% of the animals. Repeated subcutaneous injection of gamma-irradiated TR-481 tumor cells mixed with C. parvum also proved effective, resulting in absence of tumor growth in 40% of the rats. Tumor immunity was specific, since growth of an unrelated tumor was unaffected. It is suggested that local immunological reactivity to C. parvum in the immunizing tumor promotes development of specific tumor immunity.