Effect of Viral Infection and Cortisone upon Tumour Growth in Homologous and Heterologous Hosts

Abstract

RECENTLY, human tumours have been successfully transplanted to rats and hamsters conditioned with X-ray and/or cortisone, and several cell lines are now available for use in studying the effects of chemotherapeutic agents or viruses on them^1–4. Human tumour HeLa cells, grown in tissue culture, have also been transplanted to conditioned rats and their viral susceptibility examined⁵. However, the problem of whether experimental results obtained by using tumours transplanted to a heterologous host, such as a hamster, could be applied directly to cancer in human beings or not remains to be solved. In the present communication, a transplantable mouse tumour is adopted as an experimental model and the interaction of extraneous viruses and tumour in homologous and heterologous hosts is examined, together with the effect of cortisone upon tumours in different host species.