Twenty-eight substances, including antitumor agents, contaminants of human food-stuffs, rodent carcinogens, pesticides, and artificial sweeteners have been or are being evaluated in four species of nonhuman primates for their potential carcinogenicity and other long-term toxic effects. Seventeen of these substances have not as yet demonstrated carcinogenic activity, although some have been on test for less than 4 years. Eleven of the compounds are carcinogenic in nonhuman primates, producing tumors in 5-100% of the treated animals. 1-Methyl-1-nitrosourea (MNU) induced squamous cell carcinomas of the oropharynx and esophagus, with the esophageal tumors possessing clinical and morphologic similarities to human esophageal carcinoma. Long-term treatment with procarbazine resulted in an increased incidence of malignancies, one-half of which were acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. The effects of six of the compounds (DENA, DPNA, 1-nitrosopiperidine, aflatoxin B-1, MAM-acetate and urethane) were manifested primarily as hepatocarcinogenicity. Single cases of malignant tumors have been diagnosed in animals treated with adriamycin (acute myeloblastic leukemia), butter yellow (bronchioalveolar carcinoma), a sterigmatocystin (hepatocellular carcinoma) and cyclophosphamide (transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder).
