Involvement of T lymphocytes in curative effect of a new immunomodulator OM 163 on rat colon cancer metastases

In a model of colon cancer in syngeneic rats, a new immunomodulator, OM 163, induced the complete disappearance of peritoneal carcinomatosis (nodules measuring 1-5 mm) in 41 out of 82 rats. Those results were confirmed in a survival experiment in which 3 out of 10 treated rats died free of tumour 10, 18 and 28 months after the tumour cell injection while all the untreated control rats died of their tumours within 3 months. OM 163 had a systemic effect, since injected intraperitoneally it completely inhibited the growth of lung metastases in 13 out of 20 rats. The antitumour effect of OM 163 was also observed in two rat strains on original tumours. Lymphocyte infiltration was observed in the tumours mainly constituted of CD4+ and CD8+ cells. The treatment had no effect in nude rats, confirming the involvement of T lymphocytes. Furthermore, rats cured by OM 163 were protected against a second challenge of tumour cells and in a Winn's assay, splenocytes from cured rats protected normal rats against tumour cells.