Tumor development in organ transplants obtained from carcinogen-exposed rats

F344 rats were exposed intragastrically to two different dose levels of N-nitrosoheptamethyleneimine (NHMI) resulting in a cumulative dose of either 225 or 450 mg/kg body weight. Tumor development was followed either in situ in the NHMI-exposed animals or in tracheas and esophagi from NHMI-exposed donors after these organs were grafted to isogeneic recipients. Tumor responses in situ and in organ grafts were compared. The results showed that the process of carcinogenesis is not disrupted by the transplantation procedure. The carcinogen dose-response relationship observed in situ was also seen in the transplanted organs. At the high carcinogen dose, the tumor incidence was 100% in situ and transplanted esophagi and 20% in tracheas in situ compared to 25% in tracheal transplants. At the low dose, the tumor incidence was 36% in the esophagi in situ compared to 100% in transplanted esophagi, which suggests a greater sensitivity of the transplant system to detect the carcinogenicity of NHMI. The proportion of carcinomas to papillomas was markedly higher in transplanted esophagi. The tracheal tumor response at both NHMI dose levels showed the same trend but was too low to allow any firm conclusions.