Brain tumors in man and animals: report of a workshop

Abstract

This report summarizes the results of a workshop on brain tumors in man and animals. Animals, especially rodents are often used as surrogates for man to detect chemicals that have the potential to induce brain tumors in man. Therefore, the workshop was focused mainly on brain tumors in the F344 rat and B6C3F1 mouse because of the frequent use of these strains in long-term carcinogenesis studies. Over 100 brain tumors in F344 rats and more than 50 brain tumors in B6C3F1 mice were reviewed and compared to tumors found in man and domestic or companion animals. In the F344 rat, spontaneous brain tumors are uncommon, most are of glial origin, and the highly undifferentiated glioblastoma multiforme, a frequent tumor of man was not found. In the B6C3F1 mouse, brain tumors are exceedingly rare. Lipomas of the choroid plexus and meningiomas together account for more than 50% of the tumors found. Both rodent strains examined have low background rates and very little variability between control groups.