Relation Between Cortisol Metabolism and Its Lympholytic Effect in PI798 Lymphosarcoma1

Abstract

Corticoid-sensitive and corticoid-resistant P1798 tumors were incubated in vitro with cortisol-4-14C or cortisol-1, 2-3H. The steroid metabolites obtained were cortisone, 11[beta] -hydroxyandrostenedione and an unidentified polar substance. The metabolites appeared in the incubating medium very rapidly, within min. of incubation. The amount of metabolites varied by 2- to 3-fold in 2 corticoid-sensitive sublines of the tumor, even though both were equally responsive to in vivo administration of corticoid. The extent of corticoid metabolism appears to be an inherited trait which is independent of the response of lymphoid tissue to corticoid.