Abstract
This chapter examines natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity against spontaneous mouse mammary tumors. The study of spontaneous mammary tumors in mice provided an attractive system not only because of their many similarities with human breast cancer but also because it was possible to examine large numbers of tumors and study the reactivity of effector cells from syngenic normal donors. The spontaneous mammary tumors arose in C3H/HeN ex-breeder female mice at approximately 40 weeks of age. Cell suspensions, containing ≥ 75% tumor cells, were prepared by mild enzymatic digestion with collagenase and separation from host cells by discontinuous Percoll density gradient centrifugation. Overall, syngenic effector cells had significant cytotoxicity against 60% of the tumors tested. This reactivity differed from that observed against the commonly used highly sensitive cell lines, like YAC-1. It was found that the sensitivity of primary tumors was lower than that of cell lines and appeared to be modulated by environmental conditions.
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