Induction of Plasma Cell Tumours in BALB/c Mice with 2,6,10,14-Tetramethylpentadecane (Pristane)

THE induction of monoclonal, plasma cell tumours which produce immunoglobulin in the inbred BALB/c strain of mice is a unique form of carcinogenesis^1,2. Mouse plasma cell tumours have been produced by intraperitoneal implantation of solid materials, such as plastic diffusion chambers, polymethylmethacrylate plastic shavings^3,4 and circular disks⁴, and by intraperitoneal injection of various high and low viscosity white mineral oils^1,2,5. White mineral oils comprise a poorly defined mixture of saturated hydrocarbons, including normal and iso-paraffins, and naphthenes⁶, and such oils contain many hundreds of different molecular species (C. Steenbergen, personal communication). Because of the chemical heterogeneity of the oils used, it has been impossible to identify or trace the particular chemical species involved in plasma cell tumour induction. Since the discovery that the immunoglobulin products of some human Waldenström macroglobulinaemias⁷, multiple myelomas⁸ and some mouse plasma cell tumours^2,9,10 exhibit antibody activity, it has become important to elucidate more fully the factors involved in the carcinogenesis of the murine plasma cell tumours.