Tumor progression in serial passages of the Dunning R3327-G rat prostatic adenocarcinoma: growth rate response to endocrine manipulation.

Serial passages of the poorly differentiated, androgen-sensitive R3327-G prostatic adenocarcinoma were used to study the progressive changes that occur in tumor growth rate and androgen sensitivity. Different in vivo transplant generations (21st to 28th) were compared. The tumor doubling and animal survival times resulting from the implantation of the 21st to 22nd generation (21-22G) tumor cells in intact male rats were significantly greater than those resulting from the implantation of 23-28G tumor cells. The most dramatic difference between early (21-23G) and late (26-28G) tumor generations, however, was in androgen sensitivity. The 26-28G tumors displayed androgen sensitivity only when implanted into animals castrated 2 to 7 days previously. Tumors grown in the pretreated castrates grew at a significantly slower rate than those in intact rats and the pretreated castrates had longer survival times than the intact rats. When 26-28G tumors were allowed to grow in intact rats to approximately 1 cu cm and then the rats were castrated, no significant difference in the growth rate between these tumors and tumors grown in intact rats was observed. In contrast, the androgen sensitivity of 21-23G tumors could be demonstrated, regardless of whether treatment was started before or after implantation. The fact that androgen sensitivity was still evident under certain conditions in late-generation R3327-G tumors demonstrates that the basic mechanism involving androgen response was still present, although functioning at a much reduced level.