A Transmissible Avian Neoplasm. (Sarcoma of the Common Fowl.)

Abstract

In this paper is reported the first avian tumor that has proved transplantable to other individuals. It is a spindle-celled sarcoma of the hen, which thus far has been propagated into its fourth tumor generation. This was accomplished by the use of fowls of pure blood from the small, intimately related stock in which the growth occurred. Market-bought fowls of similar variety have shown themselves insusceptible, as have fowls of mixed breed, pigeons and guinea-pigs. The percentage of successful transplantations has been small, but in the individuals developing a tumor its growth has been fairly rapid. Young chickens are more susceptible than adults. The reinoculation of negative fowls has never resulted in a growth. Throughout, the sarcoma has remained true to type. It is infiltrative and destructive. Metastasis has been observed once (to the heart). Experiments to determine whether the growth may be transmitted by cell-fragments have not yet been made. Repeated bacteriological examinations have yielded negative results. In its general behavior, so far as tested, this avian tumor closely resembles the typical mammalian neoplasms that are transplantable.

Two Hundred Years of Cancer Research

“…A few astute observers were ahead of their time, including Rudolf Virchow, who with the benefit of a microscope deduced the cellular origin of cancer in 1863, 1 and Stephen Paget, who in 1889 wisely mused about the seed-and-soil hypothesis of metastatic disease, 2 a theory that is coming into its own today (Table 1). Other key advances were the discovery of a viral cause of avian cancer by Peyton Rous in 1911 3 and the proposal by Theodor Boveri in 1914 that cancer can be triggered by chromosomal mutations. 4 …”

Medulloblastoma—Biology and Microenvironment:A Review

“…While viruses in of themselves are relatively inert, viruses are capable of hijacking the host cellular machinery and inducing damage in the host organism. One of the earliest links between viruses and cancer was Peyton Rous’ discovery that a virus could induce tumor in chickens [16–18]. Howard Temin and Harry Rubin would later expound upon Rous’ discovery demonstrating that cultured cells upon infection with the Rous Sarcoma Virus were transformed into tumor cells [19, 20].…”

Beyond Plasma Membrane Targeting: Role of the MA domain of Gag in Retroviral Genome Encapsidation

“…The alpharetrovirus RSV was discovered in 1910 62 and is the basis for many seminal discoveries, including the initial identification of the ψ RNA packaging element 63 . Further studies defined the minimal ψ packaging signal as a 160-nucleotide sequence that resides almost exclusively in the 5′ leader sequence of the genome, with its 3′ border just upstream of the splice donor site 6,64,65 .…”