Immunotherapy of murine sarcoma by adoptive transfer of resident peritoneal macrophages proliferating in culture.

Normal resident peritoneal macrophages from BALB/c mice were continuously grown and expanded in vitro as non tumorigenic cells on a confluent layer of mesothelial cells. These peritoneal macrophages expanded in vitro (EPM) were very cytotoxic against EMT6 sarcoma, Abelson myeloma, EL4, and L929S cells in culture. This tumoricidal effect was fully expressed without further activation with bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS). In vivo, adoptive transfer of one million EPM to BALB/c mice bearing subcutaneous EMT6 sarcoma caused regression of the solid tumor. In contrast, macrophages produced by 10 days' culture of bone marrow stem cells, or freshly isolated from the peritoneal cavity of BALB/c mice, were not cytotoxic in vitro or in vivo. Local injection in the vicinity of the tumor as well as intravenous transplantation of EPM effectively inhibited tumor growth. This antitumoral effect was further enhanced by intraperitoneal injection of 2 micrograms LPS to the tumor bearing mice.