Skip to main content
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1936 Aug 31;64(3):401–424. doi: 10.1084/jem.64.3.401

OBSERVATIONS ON THE RELATION OF THE VIRUS CAUSING RABBIT PAPILLOMAS TO THE CANCERS DERIVING THEREFROM

II. THE EVIDENCE PROVIDED BY THE TUMORS: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Peyton Rous 1, J W Beard 1, John G Kidd 1
PMCID: PMC2133424  PMID: 19870544

Abstract

The papillomas caused by the Shope virus sometimes grow down spontaneously into the subcutaneous tissue and extend along the lymphatics in the same way as do many cancers of the human breast. They may even invade the voluntary muscle under such circumstances, taking on an aspect suggestive of squamous cell carcinomatosis, but ultimately they differentiate in the way characteristic of the papilloma. Slight operative interferences with papillomas may be followed by a development of secondary nodules in the lungs. These result from cell emboli, and the same local conditions determine their fate as are effective in the case of emboli composed of human cancer cells. The virus-induced papilloma is not only a neoplasm in its immediate aspect and habit but sometimes one that verges upon malignancy. The tumors, including the cancers, which eventually derive from it in favorable hosts, are representative of more than a mere enhancement of the activity of the growth. They develop within a relatively brief period of time but only after the papilloma has grown for a long while; and they are morphologically various whereas the parent tumor is remarkably constant in its form. Some of the new growths differ but little from the papilloma, however, even when possessed of the ability to metastasize, and many continue to be influenced by the virus. The Shope virus is heavily conditioned in its carcinogenic activity, yet it is the nearest cause for cancer now known.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (2.2 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Beard J. W., Rous P. A VIRUS-INDUCED MAMMALIAN GROWTH WITH THE CHARACTERS OF A TUMOR (THE SHOPE RABBIT PAPILLOMA) : II. EXPERIMENTAL ALTERATIONS OF THE GROWTH ON THE SKIN: MORPHOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS: THE PHENOMENA OF RETROGRESSION. J Exp Med. 1934 Nov 30;60(6):723–740. doi: 10.1084/jem.60.6.723. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Rous P., Beard J. W. A VIRUS-INDUCED MAMMALIAN GROWTH WITH THE CHARACTERS OF A TUMOR (THE SHOPE RABBIT PAPILLOMA) : I. THE GROWTH ON IMPLANTATION WITHIN FAVORABLE HOSTS. J Exp Med. 1934 Nov 30;60(6):701–722. doi: 10.1084/jem.60.6.701. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Rous P., Kidd J. G., Beard J. W. OBSERVATIONS ON THE RELATION OF THE VIRUS CAUSING RABBIT PAPILLOMAS TO THE CANCERS DERIVING THEREFROM : I. THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOST SPECIES AND OF THE PATHOGENIC ACTIVITY AND CONCENTRATION OF THE VIRUS. J Exp Med. 1936 Aug 31;64(3):385–400. doi: 10.1084/jem.64.3.385. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Rous P., Kidd J. G. THE CARCINOGENIC EFFECT OF A VIRUS UPON TARRED SKIN. Science. 1936 May 15;83(2159):468–469. doi: 10.1126/science.83.2159.468. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES