ABSTRACT
A major impediment to research on ulcerative colitis has been the lack of an adequate animal model for the disease. Overall characteristics of the disease in the cotton-top tamarin mimics the cancer/colitis relation observed in humans. The clinical characteristics of large intestinal carcinomas in humans with past history of ulcerative colitis are uniquely different from colo-rectal cancer that is not associated with a history of idiopathic colitis. Utilization of the cotton-top tamarin as a research model for investigation of ulcerative colitis and colon cancer and the relations between the two is at an early stage. None of 65 cotton-top tamarins captured from the wild had colitis rated as moderate or severe and 85% were scored as normal. The suggestion of most significance from the preliminary observations on wild-caught cotton-top tamarins is that colitis and colon cancer either do not occur in wild populations or the incidence is extremely low relative to populations held captive in temperate climates around the world.
