Effect of Orchiectomy and Testosterone on the Early Stages of Azaserine-Induced Pancreatic Carcinogenesis in the Rat

The incidence of carcinoma of the pancreas is higher among men than women. It is also higher among male than female carcinogen-treated rats. The role of testosterone in this preferential induction of pancreatic cancer was evaluated in a rat model of pancreatic carcinogenesis. Two-week-old Lewis rats were treated with a single injection of azaserine. At weaning (3 weeks), rats were divided into five groups as follows: females; intact males; sham-operated males; orchiectomized males; and orchiectomized males plus testosterone. Four months after administration of azaserine, quantitative histologic analysis of atypical acinar cell foci and nodules of the pancreas showed that in female and orchiectomized male rats, foci and nodules were smaller and less numerous than in intact males. Testosterone treatment partly reversed the effect of orchiectomy. This suggests that the susceptibility of male rats to induction of pancreatic carcinomas by azaserine is at least partially mediated by testosterone. Estrogen and testosterone receptors were assayed, but high-affinity receptors characteristic of gonadal tissues were not detected in normal pancreas or in a transplantable azaserine-induced acinar cell carcinoma. Thus, the effect of testosterone in the pancreas may depend on steroid-binding proteins of another type, or may be indirectly mediated.