Open AccessThe establishment of the C 3 H inbred strain of mice for the study of spontaneous carcinoma of the mammary gland
Author(s) -
Strong Leonell C.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
ca: a cancer journal for clinicians
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 62.937
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1542-4863
pISSN - 0007-9235
DOI - 10.3322/canjclin.29.1.57
Subject(s) - strain (injury) , citation , inbred strain , cancer , mammary carcinoma , carcinoma , library science , medicine , computer science , biology , genetics , gene
Received May 24, 1935 In recent years many investigators have become interested in the use of inbred strains of mice for the study of spontaneous neoplasia. This ad- vance has been encouraging to geneticists, who have insisted, with great reason, that intrinsic or genetic factors do play a very important role in the onset of spontaneous carcinoma of the female mammary gland. Such pioneer workers as LOEB, SLYE, LITTLE, LYNCH, and others have shown that by the proper manipulation of the process of heredity one is able to control to a very large degree the incidence of cancer in a group of mice. The coal tar derivatives and other carcinogenic agents have given to investigators a means by which many types of neoplasia may be artificially induced at will in mice and other animals. Such divergent data, as the above, wo.uld tend to produce chaos, were it not for the significant findings obtained particularly by LYNCH (1925), by KREYBERG (1934)' and by the members of the YORKSHIRE COUNCIL (1930, 31, 32, and 33). These in- vestigators, by different means (LYNCH by hybridization, KREYBERG by use of distinctly genetic pure lines, and the Yorkshire workers by selection) have definitely shown that the response of the organism to carcinogenic materials is controlled by its own intrinsic constitution. In other words, the origin of cancer by the known carcinogenic agents is the response of the individual cell to an environmental "cancer-inciting,' stimulus. More recently, the purified hydro-carbons, such as 1-2-5-6 dibenzan- thracene, benz-pyrene, etc., have been introduced into cancer research. Following the lead of the geneticists, investigators have used pure strains of mice in their sterol-painting and injection experiments. Among these may be mentioned ANDERVONT (1934) and BRANCH (1935). In view of the difficulties of analysis, especially in this case of bringing together the contributions of divergent lines of investigations, it seems desirable at this time to present the genetic background of one strain of mice. THE CaH STRAIN