Studies concerning the regional lymph node in cancer. II. Maintenance of immunity.

Abstract

It has been proposed that removal of regional lymph nodes (RLN) with a primary neoplasm may impair tumor immunity. Because of the paucity of experimental evidence to support or deny this clinically important hypothesis, studies were carried out by us in a syngeneic system to evaluate the role of RLN in the maintenance of tumor immunity. When C3H tumors were employed, removal of RLN with primary tumors depressed immunity so that there resulted a greater incidence of tumors in such animals subsequent to tumor cell challenge than occurred when only immunizing tumors had been removed. Similarly, removal of regional nodes 2, 3, or 4 weeks after primary C3H tumors had been excised resulted in impairment of tumor immunity as evidenced by growth of a tumor cell challenge. When methylcholanthrene tumors were employed, however, growth of a tumor cell challenge was similarly impaired whether primary tumors were removed alone or with RLN, suggesting that systemic immunity was unaltered by nodal excision.