Tumor growth: suppression in mice by submanidibular gland extirpation

Transplanted A-10 breast adenocarcinomas grew more slowly in young-adult male A/HeJ mice from which the submandibular glands had been extirpated than in sham-operated or unoperated control mice of the same strain. The mitotic index was lower in tumors from experimental animals than in those from controls. Vascularization about the tumor margins was also less prominent. The C1300 neuroblastoma grew more slowly in sialoadenectomized mice than in controls. Modulation of tumor growth by factors of salivary gland origin may have been responsible for these effects.