Regulation of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate in relation to growth of dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-induced mammary tumors in rats.

In this study, adenylate cyclase, phosphodiesterase and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) levels were measured in 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary tumors with different growth characteristics in both intact and ovariectomized rats. Tumors were classified as growing, stable, or regressing over a 10-14-day period before excision. Regressing or static tumors had a higher cAMP concentration relative to tumors that were growing actively. This was due to high adenylate cyclase activity and low phosphodiesterase (both high and low Km) activities. Although estrogen deprivation resulted in a much greater rate of tumor regression than would occur spontaneously under normal conditions, the levels of adenylate cyclase, phosphodiesterases and cAMP were the same in tumors obtained from either intact or ovariectomized rats, when comparisons were made within the same category of tumor. These observations suggest that cAMP metabolism is independent of estrogen, since it is related to enhancement or retardation of growth rather than to the presence of absence of estrogen.