Adoptive transfer of immunity to intraocular tumors in mice

Allogeneic tumors, transplanted into the anterior chamber of the mouse eye, grow progressively and eventually kill the host. However, recipients that have been previously immunized to the alloantigens of the tumor are completely resistant to intracameral tumor challenge. In the present study the authors examined the role of specific immune effector elements in preventing, controlling, or eradicating tumors transplanted into the anterior chamber of murine eyes. The results show that specific antibody and specifically sensitized lymphoid cells are each capable of inducing the destruction of the intraocular tumor cells. However, the two effector modalities do so with differing effectiveness. Animals pretreated with specific antibody never develop signs of intraocular tumor growth. By contrast, mice pretreated with specifically sensitized lymphoid cells display transient tumor growth within the anterior chamber. The antitumor activity of specifically sensitized lymphoid cells was found to be due to constituent T lymphocytes. There existed a relatively narrow window of time, prior to or at the time of inoculation of tumor cells into the anterior chamber, when either type of immune effector modality was able to prevent intraocular tumor growth. Neither specific antibodies nor specifically sensitized lymphocytes were able to contain the growth of the intraocular tumors when given 4 days after tumor challenge. Thus, within a relatively short period of time after intracameral transplantation, tumor cells acquire 'resistance' to specific immune host factors; as a consequence, the intraocular tumors are subsequently free to proliferate intracamerally without restraint.