INDUCTION OF AN EXPERIMENTAL TUMOUR OF THE LENS

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Abstract
The lens has never been associated with malignant change although mitosis occurs in the lens epithelium during life. Methylcholanthrene, a chemical carcinogen, was applied to the subcapsular epithelium of the rabbit lens in situ without production of malignancy. In 38 expts., mouse lenses which were transplanted into the skin of homozygous mice showed anaplastic carcinomatous changes in 3 cases within 2-3 mos. of treatment with methylcholanthrene. The tumor cells resembled normal subcapsular epithelial cells. In the young cell, the nucleus was centrally placed, becoming peripheral in the older cells with final pyknosis, a process analogous with the differentiation of a subcapsular epithelial cell into a lens fibre. There was a failure of growth in the lens graft when a mouse of a heterozygous strain was employed as host. This precludes the idea that the lens has little or no sp. specificity.

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