Doxorubicin and daunorubicin modulation of macrophages, T and B lymphocytes (anthracycline lymphocyte modulation).

Mouse spleen cells were cloned in the presence of phytohemagglutinin or lipopolysaccharide. The effects in vitro of doxorubicin or daunorubicin on colony formation were examined. At certain concentrations these drugs stimulated B lymphocytes and suppressed T lymphocytes. These were the opposite of the effects observed with in vivo drug administration. It was observed that soluble factors from drug-treated monocytes produced these effects. It was not clear whether the disparate effects were the result of two different monocytic populations or differences in the in vivo versus in vitro microenvironment present during drug administration.