In vivo activation of nude mouse macrophages by human melanoma cells

Human melanoma cell lines inoculated ip in outbred nude mice were found to activate locally macrophages, which became tumoricidal for the EL 4 target cells in a 48-hour [3H]thymidine cytotoxicity assay. However, the kinetics of this activation largely depended on the tumorigenicity of the cell line used. One week after inoculation with a poorly tumorigenic cell line (PTCL), peritoneal macrophages showed a maximal tumoricidal activity, which then slowly declined to disappear on the 4th week. Macrophages obtained after inoculation of a highly tumorigenic cell line (HTCL) were also activated, but the level of their tumoricidal activity was somewhat lower and decreased more rapidly. Irradiated melanoma cells were also able to activate peritoneal macrophages. The inoculation of a higher number of melanoma cells (less than or equal to 8 X 10(7) cells) resulted in a parallel increase in the cytotoxicity of peritoneal macrophages when activated by PTCL and in a parallel decrease when activated by HTCL. Activated macrophages taken 1 week after tumor cell inoculation and further kept in vitro without additional stimulation progressively lost their tumoricidal activity, within 48 hours after being harvested from PTCL-inoculated mice and within 24 hours after being collected from HTCL-inoculated animals. These data allied to the in vivo capacity of peritoneal cells rich in activated macrophages to prevent the growth of HTCL in nude mice strongly leaned toward the idea that macrophages are involved in the tumor growth control in the absence of a specific immune response. In addition, tumor-macrophage interactions are likely to vary from tumor to tumor and may contribute to the expression of the xenografting capacity of human tumor cells.