Enhancement of experimental pancreatic cancer in Syrian golden hamsters by dietary fat.

The effects of dietary fat on the induction and development of pancreatic ductular adenocarcinoma were studied in randombred Syrian golden hamsters. Diets containing low-fat (LF) or high-fat (HF) levels of corn oil [4.5 or 18.0 g/385 kilocalorie (kcal)], contributing 10 or 41% of the calories, respectively, were fed either before or after a single injection of N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine (BOP) (10 mg/kg body wt). Control hamsters were fed corn oil at a medium-fat (MD) level (9 g/385 kcal) for life. The incidence of ductular adenocarcinomas increased in both males and females (LF diet, 16%; HF diet, 34%) when the HF diet was fed after BOP treatment. The average number of carcinomas per carcinoma-bearing animal also increased (LF diet, 1.3; HF diet, 3.0), but the carcinoma incidence was not influenced by these diets being fed before carcinogen treatment. The incidence of ductular adenomas was high with all treatments and was not influenced by diet. However, the number of adenomas was increased in animals fed HF diets. In addition, the incidence of acinar cell nodules was elevated in animals fed the MF and HF diets after BOP administration. These results showed that dietary fat modified the development of experimental ductular adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.