Urethan-induced mammary tumorigenesis in a murine mammary tumor virus (MuMTV)-positive mouse strain: evidence for a keratinized nodule as an MuMTV-negative precursor lesion for squamous cell tumors.

Administration of urethan (CAS: 51-79-6; carbamic acid, ethyl ester) in the drinking water of breeding female mice of the murine mammary tumor virus (MuMTV)-positive DD/Tbr strain and the MuMTV-negative DDf strain induced so-called keratinized nodules, which were demonstrable in wholemount preparations of mammary glands. It also induced squamous cell tumors (also called adenoacanthoma) at an extremely early age. The keratinized lesions appearing in the lobular areas of the mammary glands showed heavy infiltration with lymphocytes and as such were very different from hyperplastic alveolar nodules, the preneoplastic lesions for adenocarcinomas. Immunoperoxidase tests with antibodies against the MuMTV revealed that positivity of normal mammary gland epithelium in the DD/Tbr strain was not found in the keratinized nodules, which was further evidence that in squamous cell tumorigenesis of the mammary gland the MuMTV is not expressed overtly even at an early stage in tumorigenesis, in contrast to the case with adenocarcinoma tumorigenesis. These findings substantiate previous conclusions that the MuMTV is not involved in chemical carcinogenesis of the mouse mammary gland.