Effects on insulin, prolactin, progesterone, and estradiol on DNA synthesis in organ culture of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene-induced rat mammary tumors.

The effect of various hormones or hormone combinations on DNA synthesis was investigated in organ cultures of 20 dimethylbenz(a)anthracene-induced rat mammary tumors. Three tumors were insulin independent and were totally insensitive to all other hormones tested. Seventeen tumors were insulin dependent for DNA synthesis and, in the presence of insulin, displayed variable responses to the other hormones. Nine of 12 such tumors were significantly stimulated by the combination of prolactin and progesterone. Given alone, these hormones were effective in only 25% of the tumors tested. Estradiol used at 2 dose levels, 0.001 or 1.0 mug/ml, acted in a reverse manner to progesterone and proved inhibitory in combination with prolactin in 40% of cases. It was ineffective alone except in 1 of 10 cases in which a stimulatory effect was recorded. A comparison in 4 tumors between estimation of DNA synthesis ([3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA) and colchicine-blocked mitoses demonstrated a good concordance. These results are discussed in terms of variations in the degree of hormone responsiveness of individual tumors and of the known hormone-dependent properties of the 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)-anthracene tumors in vivo.