Modifying influence of dehydroepiandrosterone on the development of dihydroxy-di-n-propylnitrosamine-initiated lesions in the thyroid, lung and liver of F344 rats.

Following initial treatment of F344 rats with dihydroxy-di-n-propylnitrosamine, exposure to dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) administered in the diet at a concentration of 0.6% brought about significant decrease in weight gain, independent of food consumption, and inhibited the development of thyroid tumors and hepatocyte-altered enzyme foci. In addition to inducing a diffuse increase in glucose-6-phosphatase dehydrogenase (G6PD) and gammaglutamyl transpeptidase in the liver. DHEA treatment was associated with development of small numbers of basophilic hepatocellular foci which differed markedly in enzyme phenotype from the clear cell (glycogen storing) lesions predominating in the carcinogen-treated animals maintained on basal diet. The results are consistent with the concept that DHEA-modification of neoplastic development, as reported earlier in a number of different organs and here in the liver and thyroid, may be in some way partly mediated by changed expression of the key enzyme of the pentose phosphate pathway, G6PD, and related metabolic systems. Heterogeneity in the quality of initiated hepatocytes with regard to capacity for inhibition or promotion indicated by the present data point to the existence of more than one pathway to tumour development in the rat liver.