Skip to main content
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1988 Jul 1;168(1):73–83. doi: 10.1084/jem.168.1.73

Estrous influence on surgical cure of a mouse breast cancer

PMCID: PMC2188982  PMID: 3397703

Abstract

We have studied the effect of estrous stage, as reflected by vaginal cellularity, at the time of surgical resection of an estrogen receptor- bearing mammary adenocarcinoma upon the metastatic potential of that tumor in the C3HeB/FeJ mouse. Presence of the tumor prolonged the length of the estrous cycle by approximately 25% and removal of the tumor returned the cycle to its usual duration. Neither estrous stage at tumor implant nor size of tumor at resection (within a small range) had significant independent effects upon differences observed in the incidence of subsequent pulmonary metastases. However, estrous stage at time of surgical removal of the tumor, as reflected by cell types in vaginal smear, markedly affected whether or not metastases ultimately appeared. Because the estrous cycle in mice, comparable to the human menstrual cycle, reflects high-amplitude, rhythmic changes in hormone concentrations, it may be that the hormonal status of a women at the time of tumor resection is an important determinant of whether or not that breast cancer ultimately metastasizes.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (854.1 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cohen P., Wax Y., Modan B. Seasonality in the occurrence of breast cancer. Cancer Res. 1983 Feb;43(2):892–896. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Eilber F. R., Morton D. L. Impaired immunologic reactivity and recurrence following cancer surgery. Cancer. 1970 Feb;25(2):362–367. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197002)25:2<362::aid-cncr2820250213>3.0.co;2-v. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Eilber F. R., Nizze J. A., Morton D. L. Sequential evaluation of general immune competence in cancer patients: correlation with clinical course. Cancer. 1975 Mar;35(3):660–665. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197503)35:3<660::aid-cncr2820350319>3.0.co;2-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fidler I. J., Kripke M. L. Metastasis results from preexisting variant cells within a malignant tumor. Science. 1977 Aug 26;197(4306):893–895. doi: 10.1126/science.887927. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Fisher B., Gunduz N., Zheng S., Saffer E. A. Fluoresceinated estrone binding by human and mouse breast cancer cells. Cancer Res. 1982 Feb;42(2):540–549. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hughes A., Jacobson H. I., Wagner R. K., Jungblut P. W. Ovarian-independent fluctuations of estradiol receptor levels in mammalian tissues. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 1976 Oct;5(5):379–388. doi: 10.1016/0303-7207(76)90020-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Krzych U., Strausser H. R., Bressler J. P., Goldstein A. L. Quantitative differences in immune responses during the various stages of the estrous cycle in female BALB/c mice. J Immunol. 1978 Oct;121(4):1603–1605. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Lakatua D. J., Haus E., Halberg F., Labrosse K. R., Veit C., Sackett-Lundeen L. Circadian rhythm in mammary cytoplasmic estrogen receptor content of Balb/C female mice with and without pituitary isografts. Chronobiol Int. 1986;3(4):213–219. doi: 10.3109/07420528609079539. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. NICOL T., VERON-ROBERTS B. THE INFLUENCE OF THE ESTRUS CYCLE, PREGNANCY AND OVARIECTOMY ON RES ACTIVITY. J Reticuloendothel Soc. 1965 May;2:15–29. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Nelson W., Tong Y. L., Lee J. K., Halberg F. Methods for cosinor-rhythmometry. Chronobiologia. 1979 Oct-Dec;6(4):305–323. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Poste G., Doll J., Fidler I. J. Interactions among clonal subpopulations affect stability of the metastatic phenotype in polyclonal populations of B16 melanoma cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Oct;78(10):6226–6230. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.10.6226. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Ratajczak H. V., Lewis M. G., Duggal K. Increased chemotaxis of leukocytes from mice bearing tumors. Cancer Res. 1986 May;46(5):2225–2229. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Seaman W. E., Gindhart T. D., Greenspan J. S., Blackman M. A., Talal N. Natural killer cells, bone, and the bone marrow: studies in estrogen-treated mice and in congenitally osteopetrotic (mi/mi) mice. J Immunol. 1979 Jun;122(6):2541–2547. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Wittliff J. L. Steroid-hormone receptors in breast cancer. Cancer. 1984 Feb 1;53(3 Suppl):630–643. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19840201)53:3+<630::aid-cncr2820531308>3.0.co;2-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES