THE EFFECT OF CHEMICAL CARCINOGENS ON VIRUS-INDUCED RABBIT PAPILLOMAS

The application of methylcholanthrene and tar to virus-induced papillomas of the domestic rabbit caused them to become carcinomatous with great rapidity, and the malignant changes were frequently multiple. In bringing on the cancers the chemical agents acted in their specific capacity as carcinogens, not as ordinary stimulants of cell proliferation. The cancers derived from the virus-infected cells and were of the same types as arise from these elements spontaneously after a much longer time. The evidence would seem to indicate that the chemical carcinogens acted by way of the virus.