Effects of antibodies to choriogonadotropin in malignant growth: I. Rat 3230 AC mammary adenocarcinoma

Abstract

To determine whether the in vivo production of antibodies against choriogonadotropin (CG) could modify the relationship between host and malignant growth, the effects of preimmunization with a conjugate of the β‐subunit of CG and tetanus toxoid (CGβ‐tt) on the development and growth of lung metastasis following I.V. injection of R 3230 rat mammary adenocarcinoma cells into Fischer 344 female rats have been investigated. This neoplasm has been previously demonstrated to synthesize CG‐like material. A test group of 70 animals and two matched control groups of 15 animals each were used. One of the control groups was untreated and the other received tetanus toxoid only. All the control animals had multiple lung foci of neoplastic cells ten days after seeding, as has been previously observed, and CG antibodies were undetectable. In contrast, a significant titer of anti‐CG was found in all preimmunized animals. At the same time, the pretreated animals rarely had a few small neoplastic nodes in the entire lung sections at the standard 8–10 days post‐seeding. The protective effects of preimmunization with CGβ‐tt were further demonstrated by the animals living 20 days post‐seeding, the absence of lung pathology in the ones killed thereafter, and by six animals that were left alive and have not shown any deterioration for more than six months after the administration of the cell suspension.

Antibodies to bacterial vaccines demonstrating specificity for human choriogonadotropin (hCG) and immunochemical detection of hCG-like factor in subcellular bacterial fractions

“…The presence of hCG-like material in bacteria may prove to be useful as a practical source of biologically active hCG-like material, heretofore available only through the isolation and purification of the trophoblastic hormone from human urine obtained during pregnancy. Furthermore, animal models suggest that de novo induction of antibodies to hCG may be of value as a potential method of birth control in women (24)(25)(26) and also for the prevention of some types of cancer (16)(17). In this regard, bacterial vaccines containing material similar to hCG or its subunits may have the potential for development as immunogens of practical utility.…”

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), the hormone of life and death: a review

“…Anti‐cancer vaccines It was logical that the demonstration of membrane‐associated hCG in all cancer cells , irrespective of type or origin (10–13), indicated the possibility of using the anticonceptional vaccine as a vaccine against cancer. The first experimental studies using the Population Council vaccine were done in 1982 by Kellen, Kolin and Acevedo (86,87) at the Departments of Clinical Biochemistry and Pathology at Sunnybrook Medical Centre, Toronto, Canada, and the Department of Pathology, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. The experimental neoplasm used was R3230 rat mammary adenocarcinoma in Fisher 344 female rats.…”