HETEROLOGOUS TRANSPLANTATION OF MAMMALIAN TUMORS

Abstract

A series of experiments was undertaken in an attempt to transplant rabbit tumors to animals of alien species using the anterior chamber of the eye as an inoculation site. The uterine tumor H-31 and the breast tumors T-36 and B-240 were successfully transplanted to all the various animals tried, including guinea pigs, swine, goats, and sheep, and the H-31 and T-36 tumors were maintained by serial transfer in the two first species. On the other hand, all attempts to transfer the Brown-Pearce tumor to guinea pigs were unsuccessful. The growth characteristics of the transplanted tumors were generally similar to those observed in the natural host, but noteworthy exceptions occurred. The tumors obtained a blood supply from the foreign host and invaded the periorbital tissues but did not metastasize. Histologically, the cellular morphology of the rabbit tumors was retained, but variations in parenchymal-stromal relations characterized the form of growth in different species.