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Immunological and Cytogenetic Properties of Developing Thyroid Tumors in the Rat¹

Department of Anatomic Pathology, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan 48072 [A. A.], and Department of Biology, Univeristy of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208 [G. J. M.]

Immunological and cytogenetic changes were studied in iodine deficiency-induced, transplantable "dependent," "transitional," and "autonomous" thyroid tumors.

The dependent tumors exhibited minor chromosomal changes and thyroglobulin antigenicity similar to that of normal rat thyroid. The transitional tumors exhibited moderate chromosomal alterations and practically no thyroglobulin antigenicity. The autonomous tumors exhibited severe chromosomal alteration, numerically and/or structurally, and no detectable immunogenicity related to thyroglobulin.

Although progressive cytogenetical and immunological alterations were observed as the tumor "evolved" from dependency to autonomy, no direct relationship has been established between the two.

The results of this study provide criteria to distinguish the dependent tumor from the transitional and autonomous tumors. This is in contrast to previous findings on the iodide peroxidase activity in similar tumors. Iodide peroxidase activity was measurable in dependent and transitional tumors but not in autonomous tumors. Accordingly, it is suggested here that tissue and immunological characteristics are more sensitive to change than are physiological and morphological characteristics in the developing rat thyroid tumors induced by iodine deficiency.

¹ This work was supported in part by the Marie Williams Memorial Grant P-484 for Cancer Research from the American Cancer Society.

Received 8/ 4/71. Accepted 11/22/71.