A Comparative Study of the Carcinogenic Action of Certain Oestrogenic Hormones

Abstract

The effectual role of the female sex hormone in the pathogenesis of mammary adenocarcinoma in mice hereditarily predisposed has been demonstrated. It was established, in 1932, that folliculin injected regularly into males almost constantly produces this type of cancer, which otherwise is never observed (1). This oestrogenic substance thus shows itself to be carcinogenic. Reciprocally, certain carcinogenic hydrocarbons are known to possess oestrogenic properties, as was established by Cook, Dodds and Hewett in 1933 (2). Certain hormones which coexist in variable proportions in the urine of the gravid mare seem, from experiments in mice, to be endowed with the double power of oestrogenesis and carcinogenesis (3). It appears, however, from these experiments that analogous treatment by three substances as closely allied as oestrone, equiline and equilenine, provokes quite different reactions in the organism. From Table I, summarizing one of these experiments, two facts emerge: ( a ) the variation in the period between the injection of the hormone and the appearance of mammary adenocarcinoma; ( b ) the frequency of complications dependent upon the reaction of the prostate and uterus to the injection of oestrone. Variation in the Time of Appearance of Mammary Adenocarcinoma A study of the average latent period before the appearance of cancer has been made on litters of strain R 3, injected under like conditions, from the first days of life, with each of the three hormones mentioned. Weekly injections were given of 1/20 c.c. of an oil solution of the benzoate of oestrone, equiline, or equilenine, 1:1000.