Failure of preoperative C. parvum vaccine to modify secondary disease following excision of two non-immunogenic murine carcinomas.

Sadler and Castro (1976) reported that a single dose of C. parvum vaccine given i.p. or i.v. to mice 4 days before excision of subcutaneous transplants of Lewis lung carcinoma significantly reduced the incidence of lung metastases in the operated mice. In similarly designed experiments, using 2 different carcinomas of spontaneous origin in our own inbred mouse colonies, we were unable to demonstrate any influence of C. parvum vaccine on the incidence or latent period of secondary disease in operated mice. We discuss possible reasons for our failure to reproduce the findings of Sadler and Castro.