Enhancement by prolactin of carcinogen induced mammary cancerigenesis in the male rat

Abstract

Mammary tumours were induced in 3 groups of male Long-Evans rats by a series of 6 fortnightly gastric intubations of 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene. Two weeks before the initial carcinogen treatment one group of rats was grafted with 3 pituitary homografts underneath the kidney capsule of each recipient (hyperprolactinaemia). A second group, 2 weeks before the initial carcinogen treatment and for the duration of the study (35 weeks), were injected 4 X weekly with 2-Br-alpha-ergocryptine (CB-154) (hypoprolactinaemia). A third group of rats served as controls. A significant increase in the incidence of mammary tumours and a reduced latency period of tumour appearance in the hyperprolactinaemia group, when compared with the controls, were observed in this study. Mammary tumour incidence and latency period of tumour appearance in the hypoprolactinaemia group, however, did not differ significantly from controls. Thus, an increased secretion of pituitary prolactin in rats appears to be an important enhancing endocrinic condition in carcinogenesis of the male mammary gland.