Cells from chemically induced mouse sarcomas retain tumor-specific transplantation antigenicity during prolonged passage in vitro.

Tumor-specific transplantation antigens (TSTA) expressed by cells from transplantable lines of 3-methylcholanthrene-induced BALB/c sarcomas were maintained over a 26-week culture period, which represented 2-32 passages in vitro. Cells from in vitro-passaged sarcomas were immunogenic in that they induced specific resistance in syngeneic mice to challenge with cells from the same sarcoma. They were also immunosensitive in that their outgrowth in syngeneic mice was prevented when they were mixed with lymph-node cells from mice immunized with in vivo-passaged cells from the respective sarcoma.