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Influence of Insulin Administration on Growth of the 7,12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene-induced Mammary Carcinoma in Intact, Oophorectomized, and Hypophysectomized Rats¹

Service de Médecine Interne et Laboratoire d'Investigation Clinique [J. C. H., N. L.] and Service d'Anatomie Pathologique [R. H.], Institut Jules Bordet, Centre des Tumeurs de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1, rue Héger-Bordet,², 1000 Brussels, Belgium

Administration of insulin for 6 weeks at a daily dose of 2.5 i.u./100 g body weight, together with a 10% glucose solution as drinking fluid, increased tumor growth 8.3-fold as compared with a matched, untreated control group. Administration of insulin alone or of a 10% glucose solution alone produced a smaller yet statistically significant increase (4.8- and 2.2-fold, respectively). In oophorectomized rats, administration of the same dose of insulin, together with the 10% glucose solution for 4 weeks, failed to prevent tumor regression resulting from oophorectomy. On the other hand, in hypophysectomized rats, administration of insulin for 3 weeks at a daily dose of 0.4 to 0.8 i.u./100 g body weight significantly reactivated tumor growth, as compared with a matched control group, when started 21 days after hypophysectomy. Both insulin-treated and control groups received, in addition, a 10% glucose solution and daily s.c. injections of 1.5 mg ovine prolactin; the latter proved by itself incapable of significantly reactivating tumor growth.

It is concluded that insulin administered in vivo appears to display intrinsic growth-stimulating properties on the mammary tumor tissue, similar to those previously demonstrated in organ culture. The present study, complementing earlier investigations in alloxan-diabetic rats, provides further evidence suggesting that the rat mammary carcinoma, in addition to being estrogen and prolactin dependent, is also insulin dependent.

¹ This work was supported by a grant from the Fonds Cancérologique de la Caisse Générale d'Epargne et de Retraite. This is paper 2 of a series of 2. The 1st paper (12) appears in this issue.

² This service is affiliated with the European Organization for Research on Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and with the Association Euratom-University of Brussels-University of Pisa.

Received 7/16/71. Accepted 10/ 7/71.

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