Inhibitory effect of deferoxamine mesylate and low iron diet on the 13762NF rat mammary adenocarcinoma.

The iron chelator deferoxamine mesylate has been shown to inhibit the growth of a variety of human malignant cell lines and the rat 13762NF mammary adenocarcinoma cell line. In vivo studies in mice have also demonstrated that an iron deficiency induced by either feeding a low iron diet or injecting the iron chelator deferoxamine mesylate decreases tumor growth. In this study Fisher rats were transplanted with the 13762NF mammary adenocarcinoma and divided into four groups: normal diet, normal diet plus deferoxamine mesylate treatment, low iron diet and low iron diet plus deferoxamine mesylate treatment. The measurements of tumor size and body weight were recorded weekly. We found that treatment with either deferoxamine mesylate or a low iron diet decreased rat tumor growth, but the greatest inhibitory effect on tumor growth occurred when the rats were treated with deferoxamine mesylate injections plus fed a low iron diet. These treatments did not significantly inhibit the weight gain of the rats. At the end of the experiments measurement of serum iron proved that these treatments caused iron deficiency, but there was no significant treatment related alteration in blood hematocrit. We therefore concluded that deferoxamine mesylate may be a useful chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of breast cancer, when used in combination with standard chemotherapeutic regiments or with other agents that interfere with iron metabolism, and further that the restricting of iron intake should be considered when planning chemotherapy for all cancer patients.