Neonatal mouse assay for tumorigenicity: alternative to the chronic rodent bioassay

The chronic rodent bioassay for tumors has been utilized systematically for 25 years to identify chemicals with carcinogenic potential in man. In general, those chemicals exhibiting tumorigenicity at multiple sites in both mice and rats have been regarded as possessing strong carcinogenic potential in humans. In comparison, the value of data collected for those test chemicals exhibiting more sporadic tumorigenicity results (e.g., single species/single sex or dose-independent) has been questioned. As knowledge of the carcinogenic process has increased, several alternative test systems, usually faster and less expensive than the 2-year bioassay, have been suggested for identification of the strongly acting, transspecies carcinogens. The International Conference on Harmonization for Technical Requirements for the Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use has proposed an international standard that allows for the use of one long-term rodent carcinogenicity study, plus one supplementary study to identify potential human pharmaceutical carcinogens. The neonatal mouse assay for tumorigenicity has been used since 1959; however, relative to other alternate tests, little has been written about this system. It is clear that this assay system successfully identifies transspecies carcinogens from numerous chemical classes, thus recommending itself as a strong candidate for a supplementary study to identify potential human carcinogens. In contrast, there are decidedly less data available from this assay in response to pharmaceuticals shown to exhibit weak and/or conflicting results in the 2-year bioassay, knowledge invaluable to the regulatory process. This paper reviews the historical development and our experience with the neonatal mouse assay and includes suggestions for a standardized protocol and strategies to document its response to "weak" and/or "nongenotoxic" carcinogens.