Shope papillomatosis is an entity of rabbit skin characterized by neoplastic proliferation of the epithelial cells with a thick accumulation of amorphous keratinized layer on its surface. Since first reported by Shope (1933) about 30 years ago, the viral etiology of the pathological process, i.e., the transformation of normal epithelial cells to neoplastic papilloma cells, has become a classic among the students of viral oncology. Among many interesting peculiarities in the system, the greatest attraction was, and still continues to be, the strangeness in the host-virus relationship widely known as the “masking” phenomenon (Shope, 1937; 1962). During the past decade, however, evidence seems to be accumulating to suggest that the masking is no longer an event taking place in a secret corner; it appears as though the phenomenon not only involves the central problems of viral oncogenesis but also represents one of the fundamental states of cell versus virus...
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Yôhei Itô (1962) studied this question.