Human prostatic tumors in conditioned animals and culture

Abstract

A nude mouse colony has been established with a capacity of over 1000 mice. These mice have been injected with human prostatic tumors. A spleen injection method has been developed which enables us to follow the growth of tumor cells in the animal for short periods of time and to assess the effects of hormones on this growth. We have also studied the behavior of several animal cell lines in culture and in nude mice as possible models for a hormone-dependent human prostatic tumor. By using nude mice, we have been able to show that apparent "normal" revertants of cancer cells are actually antigenic variants which can be used to immunize animals against the original tumor cells. A melanoma cell line has been developed whose growth appears to be markedly enhanced by androgens. Rat ovarian cell lines have been developed whose growth and viability are hormone dependent in vivo and in vitro.