Blood, 1960, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 130-136.
© 1960 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
In Vitro Studies on the Anemia of
Tumor-Bearing Hamsters
JOSEPH D. SHERMAN 1,
CARMEN RICKARD 1,
ROBERT S. CHRISTIAN 1, and
GILBERT H. FRIEDELL 1
1 Department of Pathology, Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals, Boston, Mass.
1. Sterile, cell-free extracts of the viable portion of a methylcholanthrene-induced sarcoma of the hamster were capable of hemolyzing in vitro hamster
red blood cells from the donor animals, and from animals with homologous
and heterologous tumors.
2. Sterile, cell-free extracts of the necrotic material from this same tumor
had little in vitro hemolytic action.
3. Whole tumor extracts varied in their in vitro hemolytic activity depending
upon the proportion of viable to necrotic tissue present, with the maximum
hemolysis observed when the whole tumor contained more viable than
necrotic tissue.
4. Sterile, cell-free extracts of normal hamster liver had a strong hemolytic
action on a whole range of red blood cells.
5. Hemolysins elaborated by the viable tissue in transplanted hamster
tumors may be one factor contributing to the anemia in hamsters bearing
transplantable sarcomas.
Submitted on February 20, 1959
Accepted on March 23, 1959
