Immunoenhancement in tumor-bearing mice induced by whole body X-irradiation with 75 mGy

Objective:In present study we observed the effect of whole body irradiation (WBI) with 75 mGy X-rays on the immune function of tumor-bearing mice.Methods:Lewis lung carcinoma cells were implanted into the right thigh muscle of C57BL/6J mice.Ten days after tumor implantation,the tumor-bearing mice were administrated with 75 mGy X-rays WBI,then the mice were sacrificed 18 h after irradiation to detect the immune parameters including the spontaneous proliferation of thymocytes,the proliferative response of splenocytes to ConA and LPS,the cytotoxic activities of specific cytotoxic lymphocytes (CTL) and natural killer cells (NK),as well as lymphokine activated killer cells (LAK) in spleen.The methods we used were 3H-TdR incorporation or release assay.Results:The immune parameters of exposed tumor-bearing mice were much higher than those of sham-irradiated tumor-bearing mice (P<0.01).Conclusion:These results suggested that low dose radiation (LDR) could enhance the immune function of tumor-bearing mice,which might be of practical significance in the prevention and therapy of cancer.