Changes in the homing properties of labeled lymphoid cells caused by solid tumor growth

The effect of a progressively growing fibrosarcoma upon the distribution of ⁵¹Cr-labeled cells from the lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, bone marrow and Peyer's Patches was measured in tumor-bearing recipient mice. Tumor presence caused a uniform depression of migration of labeled cells to the bone marrow. In most cases increased homing of cells to the spleen was also observed. Labeled cells prepared from lymph nodes and Peyer's Patches were generally unaffected by the presence of a growing tumor. Migration of labeled cells from tumor bearing donors into normal syngeneic recipients suggests depletion or incapacitation of parts of the T-cell population of the spleen. These results emphasize the important relationship between splenic function and tumor progression.