Ability of spleen cells from tumor bearing mice to transfer immunologic memory

The ability of splenocytes from tumorous mice to transfer immunologic memory was tested. Three syngeneic experimental tumors from highly inbred strains were used; fibrosarcoma, lymphoma and Lewis lung carcinoma. Splenocytes from tumorous mice were collected after rejection of allogeneic skin which had been grafted at different stages of the tumor disease, and injected into lethally irradiated syngeneic recipients. These secondary hosts were grafted with the same allogeneic skin graft as their donors and the ability of cells transplanted from tumorous donors to transfer memory to allograft was tested. Tumorous mice seemed to have more memory cells (T lymphocytes) in their spleens than the controls.