The role of the spleen and immunity in the metastatic pattern of a murine reticulum cell sarcoma.
A reticulum cell sarcoma (RCS) which initially metastasizes selectively to the spleen in C3H/HeN mice has been studied. Previous reports indicated that removal of the spleen results in widespread metastases of this tumor. The current experiments utilized a parabiotic system to determine the effect of additional splenic tissue on the gross and microscopic metastatic pattern of this RCS. The results were that the addition of a second spleen in the parabiotic group was followed by a significant decrease in visceral metastases compared with the splenectomized group. Parabiotic animals with splenectomized partners and sham-operated animals did not significantly differ from control (single) animals, with all three of these groups showing visceral metastatic spread intermediate between the parabiotic and splenectomized groups. The protective effect of additional spleen against visceral metastases was found not to be immunologic, since immunosuppression of mice by irradiation produced a metastatic pattern similar to that of control animals.
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms; D008113:Liver Neoplasms; D008175:Lung Neoplasms; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010227:Parabiosis; D012513:Sarcoma, Experimental / Q000276:immunology; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology*; D013156:Splenectomy; D013160:Splenic Neoplasms