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Effect of Colchicine and X-Radiation on the Differentiation of Human Embryonal Carcinoma^*

A. Rees Midgley, Jr. and G. Barry Pierce, Jr.

( Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pa.)

Treatment with colchicine or x-radiation of a human embryonal carcinoma of testicular origin, which has secreted a chorionic gonadotropin-like hormone in 20 per cent of heterografted hosts, resulted in a 2–3 times increase in the incidence of chorionic gonadotropin-secreting tumors as determined in oophorectomized and hypophysectomized animals. Lines developed from three of the tumors treated with colchicine maintained a 50 per cent incidence of gonadotropic secretion for several generations in the absence of further treatment. These lines gradually reverted to the normal 20 per cent incidence of secretion during continued transplantation. This evidence has been interpreted as support for the contention that human embryonal carcinoma may be a stage in the development of choriocarcinoma.

^* This work was supported in part by the United States Public Health Service Grant No. CY3297 and by the American Cancer Society Grant No. E105.

This is publication #249 of the Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Sarah Mellon Scaife Fellow in Pathology.

Markle Scholar in Medical Sciences.

Received 10/24/60.