Neoplastic and preneoplastic lesions induced in female C3H mice by diets containing diethylstilbestrol or 17 beta-estradiol.

To study the long term effects of estrogenic diets, 2160 virgin female C3H/Hel mice, having a high titer to the mammary tumor virus factor (MMTV), were fed diets containing 0, 10, 100, 500, or 1000 ppb diethylstilbestrol (DES) or 100, 1000, or 5000 ppb 17 beta-estradiol (E2) from 6 to 110 weeks of age; 1368 virgin female C3HeB/FeJ mice, having a low titer to the MMTV, were fed diets containing 0, 10, 1000, or 500 ppb DES from 6 to 136 weeks. In estrogen-treated mice, the incidence of cervical adenosis and of mammary hyperplastic alveolar nodules was increased and the time to development of mammary adenocarcinomas was shortened. These changes tended to increase with dose and time and appeared earlier in the C3H/HeJ mice. Other tumors observed included 32 cervical and 20 endometrial adenocarcinomas, 16 cervical granular cell myoblastomas, 12 peritoneal mesotheliomas involving the uterus, 2 cervical and 4 vaginal squamous cell carcinomas, 2 ovarian teratomas, 6 osteosarcomas, 25 pheochromocytomas and 3 thyroid carcinomas. Of these tumors, 1 cervical and 2 endometrial adenocarcinomas, and 4 pheochromocytomas occurred in C3HeB/FeJ control mice at 104-130 weeks; none occurred in C3H/HeJ controls. This study indicates that the MMTV facilitates the development of mammary lesions in C3H mice, that estrogens predispose C3H mice to endometrial and cervical adenocarcinomas, and that cervical adenosis may be a precursor of cervical adenocarcinoma in C3H mice and serve as an early indicator of the potential uterine carcinogenicity of a test compound. It supports the view that the C3H mouse may serve as an animal model for uterine adenocarcinomas and adenosis in women exposed to estrogens.