Iron‐dextran carcinogenesis in rats: Influence of dose on the number and types of neoplasm induced

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Abstract
Groups of 16, 32, 64 and 128 male CB Wistar rats were given, respectively, 16, 8, 4 and 2 subcutaneous injections of 0.75 ml iron‐dextran (“Imferon”) at weekly intervals: 64 untreated rats served as controls. Injection site tumours arose in 8, 11, 7 and 8 rats, respectively, in the four groups treated with iron‐dextran. The average time of tumour induction was similar in the four test groups but the grade of malignancy of tumours was directly related to the total dose of iron‐dextran administered. The wider implications of this latter observation are briefly discussed. The incidence of tumours at locations distant from the injection site was higher in the 128 rats which received only two injections of iron‐dextran than in the 64 untreated controls. However, the risk of dying with a distant tumour was not statistically higher in the combined test groups than in the control group. Several of the distant neoplasms in the iron‐dextran treated animals were of unusual types but their relationship to treatment with iron‐dextran remains uncertain.