The effect of the trichothecene mycotoxin diacetoxyscirpenol on nitrosamine-induced esophageal cancer in the rat.
The fact that the only chemicals known to be potent carcinogens for the esophagus in animals are certain nitrosamines suggests that these environmental carcinogens could be a cause of human esophageal cancer. Epidemiological investigations support this concept. The level of exposure alone is not considered sufficient to account for the very high incidence of the disease in certain regions, but potentiating factors have been shown to have a dramatic effect on nitrosamine-induced esophageal cancer in animal experiments. A likely enhancing factor is consumption of food contaminated by molds, especially by Fusaria spp, a group known to produce trichothecene mycotoxins. The effect of simultaneous treatment with diacetoxyscirpenol (DS) on methyl-benzyl-nitrosamine (NMBzA)-induced esophageal cancer was studied. Feeding a diet containing DS at 10 ppm for 10 weeks caused thickening of the basal cell layer of the esophageal epithelium, but feeding DS (10 ppm) simultaneously with NMBzA (4, 8, 16 ppm) for 10 weeks, or feeding a lower dose of DS with NMBzA for a longer period, or administration of DS per os at intervals during NMBzA treatment, did not potentiate but possibly reduced esophageal tumors. Toxicity, revealed by reduced growth rate of DS-fed animals, may have inhibited carcinogenesis. In contrast to the rapid potentiating effect of zinc deficiency, DS does not appear to cause an early enhancement of esophageal cancer.
V M
VM
Craddock
S
S
Sparrow
A R
AR
Henderson
D000818:Animals; D003043:Cocarcinogenesis; D004128:Dimethylnitrosamine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D009183:Mycotoxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000633:toxicity*; D014255:Trichothecenes / Q000633:toxicity*
D009183:Mycotoxins; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D014255:Trichothecenes; C014707:nitrosobenzylmethylamine; D004128:Dimethylnitrosamine; C001809:diacetoxyscirpenol