Iodoacetate-induced inhibition and enhancement of spontaneous leukemia in AKR mice.

Either inhibition or enhancement of the spontaneous lymphoma exhibited by AKR mice was observed after treatment with different dosages of the sulfhydryl inhibitor, sodium iodoacetate. Treatment of the mice at 3 or 6 months of age with five ip injections of 0.10 mg of iodoacetate at 5-day intervals significnatly extended the survival of the animals. A single administration of this dosage elevated the responses of splenic lymphocytes to the T-cell mitogens phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (Con A), and resulted in higher PHA and Con A response ratios than were noted for age-matched controls. Conversely, groups of 3- or 6-month-old AKR mice, subjected to the same regimen but with 0.01-mg dosages, exhibited an apparent accelerated development of the leukemia and survived for significantly shorter periods. In general, splenic lymphocytes harvested from mice given a single 0.01-mg treatment of iodoacetate were not as reactive as were control cell cultures when exposed to the T-cell mitogens.