Chemical carcinogen-induced transplantable fibrosarcomas in histocompatible chickens. II. Effect of age and thymectomy on tumor incidence.

The incidence of primary fibrosarcoma 2-4 months after im injection of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) was studied in normal, neonatally thymectomized and bursectomized SC (B2/B2) chickens. The tumor incidence was not significantly increased in thymectomized chickens inoculated at 1 week of age, but thymectomized animals inoculated at 4 weeks of age developed a higher incidence of tumors than did controls. Bursectomy did not affect tumor induction. Whereas thymectomy and bursectomy clearly reduced T- and B-cell immune responses, respectively, neither the carcinogen nor the presence of tumor had a detectable effect on the immune response. The effect of varying the age of chickens at the time of carcinogen injection was also studied. DMBA injected into chickens at 8-12 weeks of age produced a significantly lower incidence of tumors than did a similar dose of DMBA injected into chickens at 1-4 weeks of age. Thus DMBA-induced tumors in the chicken may present an interesting model for studies on immune surveillance.