ABSTRACT
Tumor dormancy has been well recognized clinically but there is a paucity of experimental studies concerning this important aspect of host-tumor interaction. BCL1 was the first B cell lymphoma described in mice. It arose spontaneously in a two-year old BALB/c mouse and is characterized by early and massive enlargement of the spleen followed later by leukemia and infiltration of the liver. The clinical characteristics of BCL1 resemble the prolymphocytic form of chronic lymphocytic leukemia in humans. The anti-leukemic affect of allogeneic bone marrow graft has been attributed to cellular immunity. Experiments were therefore conducted to determine whether cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (Tc) specific for BCL1 tumor cells could be detected in the spleens of these mice. These experiments failed to demonstrate Tc cells that were specific for BCL1 cells. Either Tc had not been generated in the mice or their level was below that which could be detected in the in vitro assay.
