Induction of plasma cell tumours in BALB-c mice with 2,6,10,14-tetramethylpentadecane (pristane).

Abstract

THE induction of monoclonal, plasma cell tumours which produce immunoglobulin in the inbred BALB/c strain of mice is a unique form of carcinogenesis1,2. Mouse plasma cell tumours have been produced by intraperitoneal implantation of solid materials, such as plastic diffusion chambers, polymethylmethacrylate plastic shavings3,4 and circular disks4, and by intraperitoneal injection of various high and low viscosity white mineral oils1,2,5. White mineral oils comprise a poorly defined mixture of saturated hydrocarbons, including normal and iso-paraffins, and naphthenes6, and such oils contain many hundreds of different molecular species (C. Steenbergen, personal communication). Because of the chemical heterogeneity of the oils used, it has been impossible to identify or trace the particular chemical species involved in plasma cell tumour induction. Since the discovery that the immunoglobulin products of some human Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemias7, multiple myelomas8 and some mouse plasma cell tumours2,9,10 exhibit antibody activity, it has become important to elucidate more fully the factors involved in the carcinogenesis of the murine plasma cell tumours.