Metastasis is the most important factor for prognosis in cancer patients, a
nd its occurrence is largely associated with host immune response. We found
that the presence of a growing tumor of colon 26, a mouse colon cancer cel
l line, completely inhibited lung colony formation in a mouse injected with
colon 26 intravenously, whereas depletion of effector cells, such as natur
al killer and T cell subsets, did not affect antimetastasis of colon 26. Si
nce colon 26 releases large amounts of interleukin-6 (IL-G) spontaneously,
we studied the association of IL-6 with lungs metastasis. Serum IL-6 level
increased gradually and reached 12.6 pg/ml five days after inoculation of c
olon 26 in the back of mice, while at the same time, lung colony formation
was inhibited. Moreover, expression of IL-6 mRNA in lung was observed to be
associated with elevated serum IL-6 level. We show the first evidence that
inhibition of lung metastases in tumor-bearing mice by colon 26 is closely
associated with an increase in serum IL-6, but not in cellular immunity.