The multicellular spheroid as a model tumor allograft. I. Quantitative assessment of spheroid destruction in alloimmune mice.

A quantitative model for the assessment of in situ immunity to solid tumor allografts has been developed. Multicellular spheroids of murine EMT6 mammary sarcoma cells were implanted in the peritoneal cavity of normal or specifically alloimmune mice. Damage to spheroids was quantitatively assessed at various times by trypsinizing the recovered spheroids and assaying for surviving EMT6 cells by a cloning technique. In alloimmune mice, significant destruction of spheroids was observed within 24 hr of implantation, and a 99% reduction in the number of clonogenic MT6 cells in spheroids was consistently found after 48 hr. In contrast, little or no cytotoxic effect was observed when spheroids were implanted for 48 hr in nonimmune mice or in mice immunized against unrelated alloantigens. Implantation of spheroids in alloimmune athymic (nu/nu) mice did not result in appreciable spheroid damage as compared with littermate controls. Histological analysis of spheroids taken from alloimmune mice at the time of maximum tumor cell destruction indicated that large numbers of mononuclear cells had infiltrated the spheroid. These results suggests that multicellular spheroids will be a useful model for quantitative studies of the cellular mechanisms responsible for tissue-damaging reactions in vivo.