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Disappearance of Natural Heteroagglutinins for Human Erythrocytes from the Sera of Rats with Progressively Growing Tumors^*

Arthur E. Bogden and Paul Myron Aptekman

( Department of Medical Microbiology, Graduate School of Arts and Sicences, University of Pennsylvania, and Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, Philadelphia, Pa.)

1. Natural heteroagglutinins for human red cells of Groups AB and O, in rats of both the P.A. and Lewis strains, were thermostable when heated at 55°–56° C. for 30 minutes but were completely destroyed when heated to 60°–61° C.

2. Trauma from repeated bleedings from the heart did not appear to affect the titer of heteroagglutinins in the sera.

3. The incidence and titer of natural heteroagglutinins in the sera of rats is related to the age of the rat. These agglutinins begin to appear in rats between the ages of 60 and 90 days, reaching consistently higher titers for human blood cells of groups O and AB after 180 days of age. Throughout this study the average titer for blood cells of group AB was higher than that for cells of group O blood. Sera from normal rats of the Lewis strain did not contain heteroagglutinins for cells of the O blood group. Otherwise, heteroagglutinin titers of of the sera from rats of the Lewis strain compared favorably with those from the P.A. strain.

4. Fifteen hours after implantation of malignant tissue in rats of either the P.A. or Lewis strain, an appreciable drop in the heteroagglutinin titers for cells of both O and AB blood groups occurred. The maximum immediate drop was reached in 48 hours. Thereafter, there was a rise in titers which reached a peak in 6–9 days. This rise, however, failed to reach the normal, pretumor implantation level. After 9 days there was a gradual and increasing drop in titer until the hemagglutinins disappeared entirely after 21 days.

5. Rats of both the P.A. and Lewis strains, with progressively growing native tumors, showed an inverse relationship between hemagglutinin titer and progressive tumor growth.

6. There was a consistent absence of hemagglutinins in the sera of 38 mature, tumor-bearing rats of the P.A. and Lewis strains. Each rat tested bore one of eight different transplantable tumors, or a primary induced tumor.

^* This investigation was supported in part by a research grant (C1646[c]), to Dr. Paul M. Aptekman from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Received 7/27/53.