Gender dimorphism in the progressive in vivo growth of a T cell lymphoma: involvement of cytokines and gonadal hormones

The present investigation was carried out to investigate gender dimorphism with respect to the progressive in vivo growth a of T cell lymphoma in a murine system. It was observed that in vivo progression of a transplantable T cell lymphoma of spontaneous origin, designated as Dalton's lymphoma (DL), shows differential growth kinetics in male and female mice. DL growth was observed to be faster in female mice as compared to male mice. We demonstrate the involvement of gender specific gonadal hormones, tumor-associated macrophage (TAM)-derived IL-1 and differential level of IL-4, IL-10 and TNF-alpha in the ascitic fluid of DL-bearing male and female mice. The study has a clinical significance, as the results will help in understanding the mechanism of gender dimorphism with respect to the progression of T cell tumors and in the designing of immunotherapy for such tumors. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.