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Cellular Attachment to Implanted Foreign Bodies in Relation to Tumorigenesis¹

Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

Previous experiments demonstrating a reduction of tumorigenicity by roughening the surfaces of plastics implanted in rodents, or by increasing the pore size of cellulose filter implants, were repeated with observations on cellular attachment to these objects and to filters strengthened and made impermeable by bonding to plastic. Round 13-mm discs of methylmethacrylate implanted s.c. in A/BiF/F50+ mice produced sarcomas in 12% of mice at 64 weeks. Tumor incidence increased to 60% (p < 0.001) in mice receiving discs to which cellulose filters with pore sizes of 0.025 to 0.1 µm were bonded. No tumors occurred with discs covered by 0.45-µm filters, followed up to 83 weeks. Vinyl coverslips 15 mm square also produced no sarcomas when covered by 0.45-µm filters; plain vinyl produced sarcomas in 40% of mice at 64 weeks (p < 0.001). Sanding of vinyl surfaces reduced tumorigenicity (p < 0.05). Permeability, fragility, and storage capacity of filters are apparently not related to tumorigenicity. Surface roughness probably is related. Cells, mostly macrophages, were densely and uniformly attached to nontumorigenic surfaces from 24 hr to 2 years after implantation but were distinctly fewer and not uniformly distributed on tumorigenic surfaces. Topology favoring attachment was inherent in 0.45-µm filters and was produced in plastic by gouging irregular excavations 10 to 15 µm deep.

¹ Supported by the Jennie Mae Barnes Cancer Research Fund.

Received 5/23/77. Accepted 8/30/77.