Abstract
Summary
The effect of thermal trauma on cellular immunity was studied in inbred mice using an in vitro assay for cytotoxic lymphocytes from spleen, lymph node, and peripheral blood. Burned BALB/c mice sensitized with EL-4 tumor cells from C57BL/6N mice showed a significant decrease in cytotoxicity of spleen, lymph node, and peripheral blood lymphocytes. This depression of cytotoxicity occurred in spleen lymphocytes when the burn was given as early as 7 days before sensitization or as late as 13 days afterwards. Similar results were obtained with peripheral blood lymphocytes, but in the case of lymphocytes from lymph nodes diminished cytotoxicity was observed only when the animals were burned after sensitization. No evidence was found for an inhibitor of cytotoxicity in serum from burned mice or for “suppressor” cells in the spleen after thermal injury. The reduced cytotoxicity of lymphocytes in burned animals could be of critical importance in the impairment of some manifestations of cellular immunity after burn trauma.
We wish to thank Dr. John R. Wunderlich of the National Cancer Institute for his helpful suggestions and discussion during the course of this work and Ms. Susan Sharrow of the National Cancer Institute for her advice on technical matters.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.