Effect of dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide induced macrophages on malignant cell proliferation

Murine peritoneal macrophages elicited by dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DDA), which is a potent immunologic adjuvant, were examined for cytotoxic and growth inhibiting activity for malignant cells. DDA macrophages had no cytolytic activity for murine B16BL-6 melanoma or human SMS-SB pre-B leukemia cells even in the presence of up to 1 microgram bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS)/ml. However, they exhibited a variable inhibitory effect on the growth of several lines of leukemia cells. The number of SMS-SB and human NALL cells remained essentially static in the presence of DDA macrophages while they increased significantly when cultured with resident macrophages. In contrast, L1210 cells increased 5-8-fold in the presence of macrophages elicited either by DDA or the inflammatory agent proteose peptone (PP). Although DDA macrophages retarded L1210 growth relative to PP macrophages, both populations responded to LPS in a comparable dose dependent manner to become essentially cytostatic at 1 microgram LPS/ml.