Tumor Growth Decreases NK and B Cells as well as Common Lymphoid Progenitor

BACKGROUND: It is well established that chronic tumor growth results in functional inactivation of T cells and NK cells. It is less clear, however, whether lymphopoeisis is affected by tumor growth. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In our efforts of analyzing the impact of tumor growth on NK cell development, we observed a major reduction of NK cell numbers in mice bearing multiple lineages of tumor cells. The decrease in NK cell numbers was not due to increased apoptosis or decreased proliferation in the NK compartment. In addition, transgenic expression of IL-15 also failed to rescue the defective production of NK cells. Our systematic characterization of lymphopoeisis in tumor-bearing mice indicated that the number of the common lymphoid progenitor was significantly reduced in tumor-bearing mice. The number of B cells also decreased substantially in tumor bearing mice. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: Our data reveal a novel mechanism for tumor evasion of host immunity and suggest a new interpretation for the altered myeloid and lymphoid ratio in tumor bearing hosts.