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Studies on the Pathogenesis of Plasma Cell Tumors

II. The Role of Mast Cells and Pituitary Glycoprotein Hormones in the Inhibition of Plasma Cell Tumorigenesis¹

Research Institute for Skeletomuscular Diseases of the Hospital for Joint Diseases and Medical Center, New York, New York

The effect of administration of glycoprotein pituitary hormones, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH), on the development of plasma cell tumors in BALB/c mice was studied. Mice of both sexes were given i.p. injections of mineral oil. By 17 months of age, 93% male and 70% female control mice treated with mineral oil alone had developed plasma cell tumors. Daily s.c. injections of bovine albumin with mineral oil treatment did not modify the tumor incidence. Mineral-oil-treated mice receiving daily s.c. injections of 0.1 mg of either TSH, FSH, or LH showed extensive proliferation of mast cells in the peritoneal cavity at the age of 14 months. Phagocytosis of malignant plasma cells by mast cells was observed in some mice. Mast cell proliferation then subsided, and no plasma cell tumors appeared thereafter. By 17 months of age, 20% of the males and 0% of the females had developed plasma cell tumor.

These results indicate the presence of a mast cell stimulating factor in the glycoprotein pituitary hormones and the inhibitory role of these substances or of the mast cells on the plasma cell tumor development.

¹ This work was aided by Grant P-397 from the American Cancer Society.

Received 4/28/66. Accepted 6/27/66.