Evidence for the Antigenicity of Papillomas Induced by 3-Methylcholanthrene23

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Abstract
Isogeneic skin grafting was successfully used to promote the rapid development of papillomas in 3-methylcholanthrene-initiated mouse skin. The immunologic competence of recipients of the initiated grafts was systematically altered to provide a range of reactivity above and below the normal level; the degree of alteration was monitored by allografts of parallel groups of recipients. The number of papillomas developing on the isografts of carcinogen-treated skin was highly correlated with the degree of immunologic competence of the recipient. Increasing the immunologic competence of the recipients with a methanol-extracted residue (MER) of bacille Calmette Guérin delayed the appearance of papillomas and decreased their incidence. Conversely, decreasing immunologic competence with sublethal radiation reproducibly accelerated the appearance of papillomas and increased their incidences. Less than half the grafts made to any of the MER-stimulated or control groups developed grossly visible papillomas; almost all remaining grafts contained submacro-scopic foci associated with a lymphocytic inflammatory response. In 2 different experiments, regression of papillomas was greatly delayed in the thymectomized, irradiated recipients. The general inability of these recipients to control papilloma development was eventually reflected in a significant increment in the proportion of malignancies. These results, combined with the observation that regressions among the multiple papillomas on a single mouse occurred independently of one another, suggest that papillomas contain individual antigenic specificities. The findings are interpreted as evidence for immunologic surveillance against papillomas at the microscopic and macroscopic level.

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