Enhanced tumor resistance and immunocompetence in obese (ob/ob) mice

Genetically obese mice (C57BL6/J-ob/ob) have enhanced resistance to metastasis of the B16 melanoma in comparison with lean littermate controls. Here we show that this difference is not due to differences in the health status of these mice. We show also that the obese mice have enhanced immunocompetence as indicated by enhanced proliferative responses of their splenic lymphocytes to T-cell mitogens but not to a B-cell mitogen. The obese mice also produced twice as many antibody-secreting cells in their spleens in response to immunization in vivo with sheep erythrocytes as did lean mice. There were no differences between the two genotypes in cytolytic T lymphocyte activity after immunization in vivo with allogeneic cells. An opioid theory of enhanced immunocompetence could account for our results.