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Alternate Complement Pathway: Elevation of Cobra Venom-Induced Hemolytic Activity in Sera of Tumor-Bearing Mice¹

From the Department of Medical Immunology, The Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York, Inc., New York, New York 10016

Abstract

We have recently reported that sera of cancer patients possess greater lytic capacity for unsensitized erythrocytes after interaction with a cobra venom protein, CVF, (1). This antibody independent lytic process results from utilization of the terminal complement components (C3 to C9) through an alternate pathway that can be initiated by an enzymatically active complex formed by CVF, C3 proactivator (properdin factor B) and other serum constituents (2–4). A hemolytic assay for this reaction sequence has been described in (5).

For minimizing the number of variables inherent in studies of this type with sera of hospitalized patients, an experiment was designed to evaluate levels of CVF-mediated lytic activity in the sera of tumor-bearing mice. Toward this end, mice of both sexes (25 ± 2g), were inoculated subcutaneously with 0.5 mg of 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC) dissolved in sterile corn oil. The largest experimental group contained mice of the Swiss-Webster strain maintained as an outbred colony in this Institute.

Footnotes

¹ This study was supported by the National Science Foundation, Grant GB-31738X; the American Cancer Society, Inc., Grant T-257; and the United States Public Health Service, Grant Al-08710.

² On leave from the Institute of General Pathology, Palermo, Italy.