Rous: fowl sarcoma transmissible by a cell-free agent

What changed

Transmitted chicken sarcoma using cell-free filtrate, implicating a filterable agent.

Scientific scope

The record is Rous's sole-author 1911 animal experiment. It did not establish the later molecular identity of Rous sarcoma virus, human viral carcinogenesis, oncogenes or src, and those later contributions remain separate.

Evidence

The linked sources identify this contribution and its scope. WRS has not independently reconstructed the scientific claims. The record is Rous's sole-author 1911 animal experiment. It did not establish the later molecular identity of Rous sarcoma virus, human viral carcinogenesis, oncogenes or src, and those later contributions remain separate.

Contributors

• Peyton Rous · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.

• PMC full text of Rous cell-free sarcoma transmission paper
• Journal of Experimental Medicine retrospective on Rous sarcoma virus

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

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