Human chorionic gonadotropin and rat mammary cancer prevention.

The observation that mammary cancer induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) in young, virgin, Sprague-Dawley rats is abolished by pregnancy led us to test the possibility of protecting the mammary gland from chemically induced carcinogenesis by using the placental hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Fifty-day-old, outbred, virgin, Sprague-Dawley rats were utilized in two different experimental protocols. In protocol 1, four groups of virgin rats received either no hCG (group I) or a daily intraperitoneal injection of hCG at 1 IU (group II), 10 IU (group III), or 100 IU (group IV) for 21 days; group I and groups II-IV, at 21 days after the last injection, were given a single intragastric dose of 8 mg of DMBA per 100 g of body weight. In protocol 2, 50-day-old rats were treated with a single intragastric dose of 8 mg of DMBA per 100 g of body weight; 21 days later, they were separated into groups V and VI. Group V rats remained undisturbed, except for palpation twice a week for detection of tumor development. Group VI rats received a daily intraperitoneal injection of 100 IU of hCG for 60 days. Tumorigenesis was evaluated 24 and 30 weeks after carcinogen administration in animals in protocols 1 and 2, respectively. In protocol 1, in which animals (with the exception of the control group) were treated with hCG prior to carcinogen administration, the incidence of adenocarcinomas decreased in a dose-dependent manner, from 43.8% in the controls (group I) to 34.4%, 18.2%, and 6.15% in groups II-IV treated with 1, 10, or 100 IU of hCG, respectively. Among animals in protocol 2, hCG treatment significantly reduced the incidence of adenocarcinomas, from 100% in DMBA-treated rats (group V) to 45.5% in rats treated with DMBA plus hCG (group VI). These data indicate that hCG can prevent both initiation and progression of mammary carcinogenesis.