Promotion of experimental breast carcinoma in rats treated with extract of liver from rats with portacaval shunt.
Liver homogenates or extracts of liver homogenates from rats in which portacaval shunt had been performed were found to have a significant growth-promoting effect on 7,12 dimethyl (a) benzanthracene (DMBA)-produced breast carcinoma in rats.  Tumor potentiation was manifested by increased incidence of animals developing tumors, increased number of tumors, and increased tumor size, when compared with animals receiving injections of shunted or control liver. These observations suggest the existence of a tumor-stimulating factor in liver from which portal blood has been completely and chronically diverted by portacaval shunt. The demonstration of tumor growth stimulating factor(s) present in shunted liver, together with previously reported observations of the modification of the growth of various types of tumors in animals with a portacaval shunt, suggests that the liver is capable of playing an important role in tumor-host interactions. The portacaval shunt appears to be useful as a technique in elucidating ways that liver function may influence tumor growth.
D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000818:Animals; D001551:Benz(a)Anthracenes; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008297:Male; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology; D009929:Organ Size; D010053:Ovary / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D011167:Portacaval Shunt, Surgical; D051381:Rats; D013997:Time Factors; D014599:Uterus / Q000033:anatomy & histology
D001551:Benz(a)Anthracenes