Differences in cytotoxic effects of activated murine peritoneal macrophages and J774 monocytic cells on metastatic variants of B16 melanoma.

The cytotoxic effects of activated peritoneal macrophages and the J774 reticulum cell sarcoma cell line on B16 melanoma cells of differing metastatic potential were investigated in vitro. The melanoma target cells were sublines of low (B16-F1) or high (B16-F10) lung colonization potential as well as a subline of high (B16-B14b) brain colonization ability. Thioglycolate-elicited peritoneal macrophages from syngeneic C57BL/6 mice and J774 cells were activated in vitro with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) and used as effector cells. Macrophage-mediated cytolysis was determined by means of 24- to 72-hour radioactivity release assays with [125I]5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine-labeled melanoma cells; the results indicated that the more metastatic sublines B16-F10 and B16-B14b were less susceptible to cytolysis by activated macrophages and J774 cells than was the poorly metastatic B16-F1 subline. The poly I:C-activated effector cells also released soluble cytotoxin(s), which resulted in melanoma cell lysis and growth inhibition. Cytotoxin-mediated melanoma cell cytolysis was determined by counting the number of viable mitomycin-treated target cells remaining after a 40-hour incubation period in the absence or presence of various concentrations of cell-released factors, and cytotoxin-mediated cytostasis was performed with the use of the same procedures without mitomycin pretreatment of targets. The factors released from both activated macrophages and J774 cells were more effective against the poorly metastatic B16-F1 cells than against the highly metastatic B16-F10 or B16-F14b cells. In addition, the activity of the factors from both activated effector cells was inhibited by fetal bovine serum. The J774 cells and the activated peritoneal macrophages demonstrated similar activities against B16 melanoma variants, indicating that the J774 cell line may be suitable as a model for the study of macrophage cytotoxicity. The results suggested that the potential of the highly metastatic melanoma cells to implant, survive, and grow at secondary sites may be due, in part, to their ability to circumvent host antitumor mechanisms.