Genetic constraints in the induction of the immune response to ehrlich ascites tumor in mice

A single injection of irradiated Ehrlich ascites tumor (EAT) cells induces immunity in normal mice but fails to do so in T-cell-deficient-thymectomized, lethally irradiated, bone marrow-reconstituted (TIR) mice. TIR mice injected with normal syngeneic T cells develop an immune response to EAT when injected with irradiated EAT cells and reject a subsequent tumor cell challenge. In the present studies allogeneic T cells were unable to protect against EAT in TIR recipients even if harvested from donors tolerant to the recipient's transplantation antigens and injected into the TIR mice tolerant to the transplantation antigens of the injected T cells. Tolerance was produced by establishing long-term radiation chimeras of the P → F 1 type. Semiallogeneic T cells also failed to afford protection against EAT in TIR recipients. Whereas tolerance to other parental-strain transplantation antigens did not reverse the inability of parental T cells (cells from P → F 1 chimeric donors) to protect against EAT in F 1 TIR mice, it did enable F 1 T cells to afford protection in P → F 1 TIR mice.