Document wgDvebdJKRwNEoygYqxqxk6jQ
TUMORS OF THE SKIN
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tion to these general and fundamental aspects of experimental tar cancer, its
accomplishment supplied, for the first time, definite experimental proof of
the occupational origin of cancers observed among several groups of workers
exposed to tar, pitch, and related substances. The great, continued interest,
which the original investigations of Yamagiwa and Itchikawa have aroused,
is reflected in the great number of experimental studies on tar cancer which
have followed their work. These investigations have covered numerous aspects
important in regard to tar cancer and occupational tumors in general. In view
of this fact, and considering that no industrial neoplasm has been studied ex
perimentally as thoroughly as tar cancer, especially in connection with the
effect which other exogenous agents may exert upon its genesis and course, a
0 comprehensive presentation of data on experimental tar cancer is essential and vJ pertinent. The information supplied by experimental investigations is of dis
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i tinct value for confirming, adjudging, and supplementing observations made
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in man, particularly when the evidence available is controversial or defective.
Historical Aspects. Many failures preceded the successful production of tar
cancer by Yamagiwa and Itchikawa in 1915. Hanau (1889) and Lubarsch
(1890) applied tar to rats for several months without obtaining any neoplastic
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responses. Negative results were recorded by Cazin in 1894 after painting dogs
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with tar for a corresponding period of time. Brosch applied this agent to the
skin of guinea pigs for 3 to 4 months without eliciting any cutaneous tumors
(1900). Stahr painted mice, rats, and rabbits with soot, tar, and xylol-paraffin
>s without success (1907). Ullmann rubbed paraffin oil into the ears of rabbits
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(1912), and Haga (1913) applied pitch to the scrotum of these animals with
out obtaining tumors. These failures were due, in part, to the use of species of
animals possessing a more or less marked resistance to carcinogenic action of
agents employed, but mainly, to an insufficiently long period of application.
Therefore, success came when Yamagiwa and Itchikawa repeatedly painted
the ears of rabbits with hard coal tar for many months until metastasizing
carcinomas appeared at the sites of application. These results were confirmed,
subsequently, by numerous investigators using rabbits and other species of
animals (Tsutsui (1918)5 Blochj Bierich; Itchikawa5 Deelman; and Teutsch-
laender; in mice). The first experimental production of pitch cancer in
mice was accomplished by Kennaway who obtained 9 tumors (3 papillomata,
6 epitheliomata) among 27 survivors of 100 mice treated with a suspension of
pitch in lanolin. These restdts were substantiated by Leitch who used a sus
pension of pitch in sebum, and were elaborated upon by Kennaway and Jordan
who, by applying a solution of pitch in benzol to the skin of mice, produced
cutaneous malignancies.
Constitutional Factors (Differences in the Susceptibility of Various Strains y"
and Species). In numerous attempts made to confirm and extend the original
observations of Yamagiwa and Itchikawa, and Tsutsui, marked variations in