Interaction of a salivary gland virus and experimentally produced carcinomas of the mouse salivary gland.

Summary 1.C strain mice, not natural carriers of the salivary gland virus, bearing methylcholanthrene-induced adenoacanthomas or undifferentiated carcinomas of the salivary glands, were given injections of freshly prepared suspensions of mouse salivary gland virus, either subcutaneously, intraperitoneally, or directly into the growing tumors. 2.Several methylcholanthrene-induced tumors of the salivary glands were successfully transplanted into the axillae of other C strain mice, and these tumor-bearing mice were given injections of the salivary gland virus suspension subcutaneously, intraperitoneally, or directly into the growing tumor. 3.Regardless of the route of introduction of the salivary gland virus or the stage of development of the tumors, whether in the salivary glands or transplanted into the axillary region, salivary gland virus inclusion bodies were never observed in neoplastic cells, although characteristic salivary gland virus inclusion bodies were observed in the acinar epithelium of the salivary glands. These salivary gland tumors exposed to the salivary gland virus continued to develop and grow without loss of transplantability and did not morphologically differ from the nonexposed tumors. 4.Mice of a Swiss albino strain invariably exhibited salivary gland virus inclusion bodies in their salivary glands, but tumors induced by methylcholanthrene in the salivary glands of these carriers failed to exhibit salivary gland virus inclusion bodies, although salivary gland virus inclusion bodies appeared in the normal salivary gland tissue, even next to the growing tumors. 5.Various experiments concerning the nature of mouse immunity to the salivary gland virus are reported here, along with the data on our attempt to recover this virus from virus-exposed salivary gland tumors. Some possible mechanisms are proposed to explain the lack of association of the mouse salivary gland virus and methylcholanthrene-induced salivary gland neoplasms.