Adrenal steroids stimulate growth and progesterone receptor levels in rat uterus and DMBA-induced mammary tumors

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Abstract
We have studied the effect of treatment with the adrenal steroids androst-5-ene-3β,17β-diol (Δ5-diol) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on the growth and progesterone receptor levels of dimethylbenz-(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary tumors in the rat. While the total number of tumors in ovariectomized animals was 0.60 ± 0.19 tumor per rat after 24 days, it increased to 2.54 ± 0.50 (p5-diol and DHEA (2 mg, twice daily) treated animals, respectively. While very few new tumors developed during a 24-day period in ovariectomized animals (0.07 ± 0.07/rat), an average of 0.47 ± 0.19 (p5-diol or DHEA, the numbers of new tumors were 0.77 ± 0.26 (p2 in intact animals to 0.75 ± 0.27 cm2 (p2 (p5-diol- and DHEA-treated ovariectomized animals, respectively. Treatment of ovariectomized animals with Δ5-diol and DHEA caused a marked increase (p19-Δ5 steroids, Δ5-diol and DHEA, possess stimulatory effects analogous to those of estrogens on DMBA-induced mammary tumor growth and progesterone receptor levels in the rat, thus supporting the suggestion of an important role of these adrenal steroids in breast cancer and other estrogen-sensitive diseases in the human.