Abstract
We have a long-standing interest in studies of the cytotoxic effects of antitumor agents in vivo and we have been struck by their high capacity to induce selective lesions in cell-renewal systems. In this respect antitumor agents have appeared to be unique among various classes of pharmacologically active substances. For this reason we were greatly interested in the reports by HUGGINS (6) and other workers (8) that the potent carcinogen 7,12-dimethyl- benz(a)anthracene, (DMBA), has toxic effects on hematopoietic cells in bone marrow, thymus, and spleen, on spermatogenesis, and on intestinal crypt epithelium. It seemed appropriate to ask whether antitumor agents which have similar cytotoxic effects might also have carcinogenic activity like DMBA. We chose to study this possibility by testing for tumor induction in mammary epithelium of virgin, female rats. As shown by HUGGINS and others this system is highly susceptible to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon carcinogens. It is also susceptible to the carcinogenic effects of X-irradiation (3).
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