The effect of immune organ transplants on homograft rejection in tumor-bearing mice.

Abstract The delayed skin homograft rejection in Ehrlich ascites tumor-bearing mice can be at least partially corrected by specifically immune spleen or thymus transplants. The correction of skin homograft rejection in these studies usually approximated a first set time, not the second set time expected if the tumor were without influence. The transplants did not appear to effect the tumor growth or time of death in these mice. The spleen, thymus, and homograft of the recipient mice, as well as the transplanted spleen and thymus, were examined histologically with acridine orange stained preparations. Increased nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA in both donor and recipient lymphoid cells was observed in the mice receiving immune transplants, skin homografts, or Ehrlich ascites tumor. The possibility that the transfer of RNA or some other subcellular component from competent lymphocytic cells was responsible for the correction of immune response has been discussed.