Allogeneic cell therapy for a murine mammary carcinoma

The effect of allogeneic cell therapy on tumor growth was studied in a murine model of mammary carcinoma (4T1) as an experimental model of solid tumors in humans. i.v. inoculation of 4T1 (H-2(d)) cells into syngeneic mice [BALB/c or (BALB/cXC57BL/6)F₁] (F₁) carrying the H-2(d) histocompatible antigens results in tumor colonies in the lungs that finally cause the death of all of the mice. Sublethally irradiated F₁ mice were inoculated with 4T1 cells to simulate minimal residual disease and with immunocompetent splenocytes derived from naive donors of F₁ (syngeneic), BALB/c (syngeneic to the tumor but semiallogeneic to the host), or C57BL/6 (allogeneic to the tumor and semiallogeneic to the host) mice. The survival of F₁ tumor- bearing mice that were treated with allogeneic C57BL/6 splenocytes was significantly prolonged (P < 0.02) compared with hosts given F₁ or BALB/c- derived splenocytes that are syngeneic to 4T1 tumor cells. Adoptive transfer of lung cells that were isolated from F₁ primary mice inoculated with 4T1 cells and syngeneic BALB/c or F₁ splenocytes led to local tumor growth and death in secondary recipients. In contrast, only 1 of 22 secondary recipients developed tumors when inoculated with lung cells derived from F₁ mice given allogeneic C57BL/6 splenocytes. All of the 21 secondary hosts survived disease-free for a follow-up time of >200 days. These results indicate that immunocompetent cells allogeneic to the mammary carcinoma cells were able to inhibit tumor development in the primary hosts and to prevent tumor growth in the adoptive recipients, which suggests that allogeneic cell therapy may be an efficient antitumor tool to eradicate minimal residual disease in human solid tumors.