Abstract
The utility of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) was explored as a histochemical marker for chemical carcinogenesis in hamster buccal pouch mucosa. One or both buccal pouches of 18 noninbred male Syrian golden hamsters were treated topically with 0.5% 7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) in mineral oil over 16 weeks to produce numerous epithelial lesions at various stages of neoplastic development. Both buccal pouches of 4 control animals were similarly treated with mineral oil alone. At the completion of the DMBA treatment, patchy GGT histochemical activity was detected in areas of dysplasia and in 35 of 106 papillomas and well-differentiated squamous cell carcinomas. GGT activity was not detectable in untreated pouches or pouches treated with mineral oil alone. In a separate experiment, wholemounts of buccal pouch epithelium were used to detect and quantitate minute populations of GGT- stained cells induced in the epithelium by eight topical applications of DMBA over 4 weeks. With this technique, multiple discrete GGT-stained areas were visible in wholemounts prepared at 1 and 6 weeks after the final application of DMBA. The experimental results were consistent with the hypothesis that the early GGT-stained cell populations are preneoplastic in nature.— JNCI 1981; 67:193–200.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 193-200 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of the National Cancer Institute |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1981 |
Funding
1 Received October 21. 1980; accepted January 15, 1981. 2 Supported by a grant from the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation, Midland. Mich., and by Public Health Service grant I-ROI-CA28620-01 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). 3 Guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed as set forth by Harvard University. 4 Department of Oral Medicine and Oral Pathology, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, 188 Longwood Ave., Boston, Mass. 02115. l Recipient of Public Health Service Career Development Award I-K04-CA00673-01 from the NCI. 6 I thank Dr. Gerald Shklar (Oral Pathology, Harvard School of Dental Medicine) for assistance with the histopathologic assessment of tissue specimens. Technical assistance of Mr. Yury Koyen, Miss Dorothy Wright, and Miss Betty Gonzalez is gratefully acknowledged, as is the careful stenography of Mrs. Beth Connors.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cancer Research
