Iron is one of the essential elements involved in various biologic phenomena in the cell, particularly essential for cellular growth and proliferation. But excessive accumulation of iron is known to be associated with the increased incidence of cancer; chelation of iron by desferoxamine is known to suppress the neoplastic growth. Normally the absorption of the dietary iron is for the amount just enough for the deficient fraction; however, it has been suggested that persistent and excessive dietary intake of iron causes overloads of iron in the body. In mammary cancer, which is thought to be related to diet, excessive iron intake is thought to influence the development and growth of tumor. This study was attempted to investigate the influence of excessive iron intake on the development and growth of breast cancer induced by N methyl-N-nitrosourea(MNU) in Sprague Dawley rats. The incidence, the size, mitotic activities, PCNA index and histopathologic findings of the MNU induced breast cancer were studied between high-dietary-iron and the normal-dietary-iron groups. The effect of iron deficiency induced by desferoxamine on mammary adenocarcinoma was also studied. The results of this study showed no difference in the development and growth of breast cancer between the normal-dietary-iron and high-dietary-iran groups after MNU injection, with regard to tumor size, mitotic figures, PCNA index and histopathologic findings. The breast cancers of desferoxamine group did not show any difference in incidence, tumor size, and PCNA index; they showed lower mitotic figures and lower histologic grades. The measurement of the iron contents of the tumor tissue showed no statistically significant difference among normal-dietary-iron, high-dietary-iron and normal-dietary-iron with desferoxamine groups. Normal-dietary-iron with desferoxamine group consistently showed low hematocrit value. In summary of above findings, excessive iron intake does not seem to have a significant effect on the incidence and growth of the breast carcinoma of rats induced by MNU. The low histologic grade and low mitotic figures seen in breast tumors of normal-dietary-iron with desferoxamine group is thought to be the result of inhibition of DNA synthesis related with chelation of iron.
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