Adaptation of an amphibian renal carcinoma in kindred races.

The renal adenocarcinoma of the common leop ard frog, Rana pipiens, generally known as the Luckécarcinoma, is found naturally in about @ per cent of the frogs obtained from the Lake Cham plain Valley in northern Vermont (@9, 35, 46). The carcinoma is transmissible, presumably by way of a virus-like agent (@9,30, 44). The agent from the Vermont carcinoma is specific to renal epithelium (80) and also particularly race-specific (3@). It will not induce tumors in races of Rana pipiens from New Jersey (@9)or from Wisconsin (43, 44) nor in alien species of amphibians, fish, and reptiles (33). Recently, it has been demonstrated that the renal agent is modified by passage through sala manders in such a way that it will induce growth in other tissues (43, 44). The present work is a study of transformations resulting from growth of the Luckétumor from Rana pipiens of Vermont in eye chambers of a kindred race of R. pipiens from Wisconsin. This report also includes a study of host reaction when the tumor is implanted in eyes of hosts of varying degrees of relationship to the Vermont donor.