Dietary Fat, Calories, and Mammary Gland Tumorigenesis

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Abstract
In experimental animals (mice and rats), altering the levels and/or types of dietary fat markedly influences the development of mammary tumors. This phenomenon has now been demonstrated in an impressive array of carcinogen-induced,1–106 transplantable,107–121 “spontaneous”122–139 and metastatic140–150 experimental rodent mammary tumor systems. The purpose of this communication is to review and critique the relationships between dietary fat and mammary gland tumorigenesis in rodents. In particular, five issues are examined and critiqued, i.e., 1) amount of fat and rodent mammary tumorigenesis, 2) type of fat and rodent mammary tumorigenesis, 3) fat and rodent mammary tumor cell metastasis, 4) the fatcalorie-rodent mammary tumorigenesis relationship, and 5) influence of fat on development of human breast carcinoma transplants in immune-deficient mice. Although the amount and/or type of dietary fat have been reported to influence the development and/or growth of the normal and/or pre-neoplastic rodent mammary gland,84, 07,138,151–156 these relationships, albeit important, will not be discussed in this chapter. Specific mechanisms by which dietary fat influences mammary gland tumorigenesis in rodents have been discussed in previous reviews157–162 and will not be a major focus of this communication. All amounts of dietary fat cited in this review are expressed as percent by weight. The terms “mammary tumor development” or “mammary tumorigenesis” denote mammary tumor growth, incidence, number, and/or multiplicity.