[Neoplasm-resistance of guinea pigs: demonstration of a principle ensuring destruction of human cancer cells in culture].

The thymus and the spleen of guinea Pigs treated with oestrogen were rich in cells showing a special inclusion, the Foa-Kurloff body cell (F.K.). Thymic, spleen and renal cellular extracts were obtained by tissue crushing and ultra-centrifugation from healthy or oestrogen treated animals. The extracts were added to carcinomatous (HeLa) or to non-carcinomatous cells (MRC5 fibroblasts or foetal human lung cells). The thymic extracts in the non-treated animals and the splenic extracts rich in F.K. body cells induced an inhibition in the growth of carcinomatous cells. These effects were increased with the thymus extracts rich in F.K. bodies. The thymic inclusion of F.K. seems therefore to concentrate tumorous thymic fractions.