Serial circulating immune complex levels and mitogen responses during progressive tumor growth in WF rats

Inbred male WF rats were given im injections of one of two antigenically and histologically distinct syngeneic tumor isografts, adenocarcinoma DMH-W 163 or spontaneous renal cell carcinoma SPK. Serum and peripheral blood lymphocytes were harvested from tumor-bearing and normal age-matched controls before and after isograft challenge at weekly intervals. Serial circulating immune complex (CIC) levels were quantitated by polyethylene glycol (PEG) insolubilization. T-cell mitogen responses to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (Con A) were followed serially. Tumor growth was measured at least weekly. PEG-CIC values rose early after tumor injection, increased with tumor growth, and declined in some animals just before death. Mitogen response to PHA was significantly decreased in isografted tumor-bearing rats, particularly at later stages of tumor development, compared to normal uninoculated controls. Responses to Con A were variable, and suppression was not always seen in tumor bearers. In animals that did not have progressive tumor growth after isograft injection, PEG-CIC levels did not change and responses to PHA were not suppressed. Patterns of CIC change and responses to PHA were not affected by differences in tumor histology or growth rates. Thus serial CIC levels measured by the PEG assay correlate with tumor growth and precede nonspecific suppression of T-cell mitogenic response in these animal tumor models.