Macrophage‐dependent, NK‐cell‐independent “natural” surveillance of tumours in syngeneic mice

The present study, which was designed to further characterize the “natural” T‐independent rejection of syngeneic tumours (Greenberg and Greene, 1976), has revealed the following points: (1) no detectable DBA/2 NK cell activity was demonstrated against the syngeneic tumour lines studied, and these tumours were insensitive to NK cells from high‐activity strains; (2) in addition the tumour frequencies in old and young mice receiving small tumour inocula were identical, in contrast with the reported decline in NK cell activity with age, suggesting that the surveillance of small inocula of these tumours was NK‐cell‐independent; (3) injection of silica intraperitoneally enhanced the frequency of tumours in normal and immunodeficient AT × BM mice, suggesting that the rejection mechanism was macrophage‐dependent; (4) the effects of silica injection were maximal if administered 3 days prior to tumour injection, indicating that the period of time in which the rejection mechanism must act was very limited; (5) silica markedly decreased the survival of AKR mice dying of spontaneous tumours, providing evidence that the effect of this agent was not limited to model systems but would influence the appearance of spontaneous tumours; (6) reticuloendothelial stimulants such as Mycobacterium butyricum and proteose peptone decreased the tumour frequency of small tumour inocula, indicating that the effector mechanism can be stimulated; and (7) soluble tumour antigen enhanced the tumour frequency in normal and immunodeficient mice, suggesting that the specific receptor molecule of the surveillance mechanism was not thymus‐dependent.