Increased susceptibility to lethal lipopolysaccharide in mice with effects of bacterial b-cell leukemia

Susceptibility to the lethal effects of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) increased more than one hundredfold in BALB/c mice given syngeneic B-cell tumor transplants. The increased susceptibility to LPS that developed during the following weeks paralleled tumor growth in the liver and spleen. The tumor-bearing animals also developed an enhanced capacity to clear colloidal carbon from the blood, consistent with increased activity of the reticuloendothelial system. Although hypersusceptibility to LPS had been reported in a number of animal models, our experiment was the first demonstration in a tumor model that susceptibility correlates with tumor burden.