A New Spontaneous Hamster Carcinoma Associated with a Positive Erythroagglutination Reaction and Anemia.

The appearance of a spontaneous carcinoma in an untreated male golden hamster has provided us with a very useful additional experimental model with which to study the anemia of malignancy. The tumor, probably of salivary gland origin, has been serially transplanted in the cheek pouch or flank of normal hamsters through 70 trans plant generations. The growth characteristics are stable and predictable, and a growth curve has been established. Growth of the tumor is associated with the development of a normochromic, normo cytic anemia, much like that seen in many human cancer patients. The anemia is not related to blood loss, metastases, cachexia, or infection. The animals develop a positive erythroagglutination reaction, and red cell survival is shortened. The erythrocytes are not intrinsically defective, but an extrinsic destructive mechanism is operative.