On the Immunity Reactions of a Heterotransplantable Mouse Carcinoma Propagated in Rats for Seven Years

Abstract

The following investigation was carried out with a tumour strain which can be propagated continuously in mice and in rats. The strain was sent, in 1929, to Professor de Balogh of the Pathological and Cancer Research Institute of the University in Budapest by Professor Silverstein of the Pathological Institute of the University of Vienna. It was then a transplantable mouse tumour, and was described as “Ehrlich's mouse carcinoma.” It is one of the most rapidly, if not the most rapidly, growing of transplantable tumours, and on inoculation into mice takes in 100 per cent. Histologically, it is a very cellular tumour, without any definite structure, and composed of undifferentiated round cells. After several unsuccessful attempts, I was able, in 1929, to transplant this tumour into rats, and it has been propagated continuously in rats since. Detailed accounts of these experiments have been published (Putnoky, 1930, 1933), but a brief account of the technique of transplantation and of the behaviour of the tumour in rats is necessary. The success of the propagation in rats depends mainly on the use of large doses. In my experiments, I use from 300 to 500 mg. of tumour. The material is inserted subcutaneously through an incision in the skin of the back and pushed into a pocket of subcutaneous tissue as distant from the incision as possible. Dr. W. Cramer, to whom I sent several rats with this tumour in 1935, informs me that he has been able to propagate this tumour continuously in rats through 16 generations, using smaller amounts of tumour tissue, from 50 to 100 mg. The tumour has to be transplanted every ten days, but it is not necessary to transplant into very young rats. As a rule, rats weighing 100 to 120 grams were used. The strain of rat appears to be of some importance. In the Budapest rats the tumour grows so rapidly that in ten to fourteen days it attains a weight varying from 30 to 40 grams, and in that period kills a high percentage of the tumour-bearing animals as shown by the following table.