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The Destructive Effect of Radiation on Lymphatic Tissue¹

Biology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

The destructive effect of radiation on lymphatic tissues is influenced in variable ways and to different extents depending on the physical factors concerned with the radiation itself and on biologic factors concerning the exposed organism. In this context the major physical factor is radiation dose and the major biologic factor is local versus whole-body exposure. Presence of non-neoplastic pathologic changes in lymphatic tissue could conceivably also alter radiation effects as well as the subsequent ability of the lymphatic tissues to regenerate. Regeneration in the exposed tissue is interesting from the normal physiology point of view, and the observation that granulopoiesis usually precedes reaccumulation of lymphocytes requires further consideration.

Potentiation of radiation effects by graft-versus-host and graft-versus-tumor reactions is of great interest because clinical trials utilizing immunotherapy of cancer as a supplement to standard therapeutic measures are now worth serious consideration. The idea that tumor cells of lymphatic tissue origin might cause graft-versus-host reactions could form the basis for additional experiments.

It is proposed that the organ system made up of lymphatic tissues be given the status of an organized academic branch of biomedical knowledge in order that basic and applied research in the field can follow some nonrandom scheme of development.

¹ Sponsored by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission under contract with the Union Carbide Corporation.