Preventive effects of antioestrogen on mammary and pituitary tumorigenesis in rats

Six groups of inbred male Wistar/Furth (WF) rats were castrated at 40 days of age and group I received no further treatment. Groups 3 and 5 received 5.0 mg diethylstilboestrol (DES) pellets. Groups 4 and 6 were given both DES and 5.0 mg anti-oestrogen (antiE) clomiphene citrate pellets. At 50-55 days of age groups 2, 5, and 6 were exposed daily to drinking water containing 5.0 mg N-nitrosobutylurea (NBU), for 30 days. None of the castrated rats given NBU alone developed mammary or pituitary tumours (MT, PT). When antiE was administered, both MT and PT incidences were reduced in rats given DES alone or in combination with NBU. Furthermore, in antiE-treated rats receiving DES and NBU the mean number of MT per rat was also significantly decreased. Similarly a marked reduction in the mean pituitary weight was observed in antiE-treated groups. These results indicate that antiE treatment was effective in the prevention of both mammary and pituitary tumorigenesis in rats receiving DES alone or receiving a combination of DES and NBU, and its inhibitory effect on mammary tumorigenesis may be mainly due to competitive antagonism for DES-induced pituitary tumorigenesis by antiE.