Influence of diabetes on susceptibility to experimental pancreatic cancer

Clinical studies suggest that diabetes mellitus may predispose to the development of pancreatic cancer. The current study investigated the effect of experimental diabetes on the susceptibility of the Syrian hamster to the induction of exocrine pancreatic carcinoma by the carcinogen BOP. Diabetes was induced with the B-cell toxin streptozotocin. Three groups of animals were studied: nondiabetic control animals and animals with streptozotocin-induced diabetes, and a third group of animals in which the diabetogenic effect of streptozotocin was blocked with nicotinamide. Streptozotocin-induced diabetes significantly inhibited the induction of pancreatic carcinoma by BOP, decreasing the incidence of carcinoma to 24 percent compared with an incidence of 75 percent in nondiabetic control animals (p less than 0.002). In diabetic animals, the degree of inhibition of carcinogenesis paralleled the severity of the diabetes. Blocking the diabetogenic effect of streptozotocin with nicotinamide restored the incidence of induced invasive pancreatic carcinoma to that occurring in nondiabetic control animals. In the hamster model, diabetes appears to have a strong influence on susceptibility to the development of pancreatic carcinoma.