Modulation of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea induced mammary tumors in Sprague-Dawley rats by combination of lysine, proline, arginine, ascorbic acid and green tea extract

• Published in: Breast cancer research : BCR 2005-01, Vol.7 (3), p.R291-R295, Article R291
• Main Authors: Roomi, M Waheed, Roomi, Nusrath W, Ivanov, Vadim, Kalinovsky, Tatiana, Niedzwiecki, Aleksandra, Rath, Matthias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alkylating Agents - toxicity; Amino acids; Animal Feed; Animals; Antioxidants - pharmacology; Arginine - pharmacology; Ascorbic Acid - pharmacology; Breast cancer; Chemoprevention; Female; Green tea; Injections, Intraperitoneal; Lysine - pharmacology; Mammary Neoplasms, Animal - prevention & control; Metastasis; Methylnitrosourea - toxicity; Neoplasms, Experimental; Proline - pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Tea; Vitamin C
• ISSN: 1465-542X; 1465-5411; 1465-542X
• DOI: 10.1186/bcr989

The limited ability of current treatments to control metastasis and the proposed antitumor properties of specific nutrients prompted us to examine the effect of a specific formulation (nutrient supplement [NS]) of lysine, proline, arginine, ascorbic acid, and green tea extract in vivo on the development of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced mammary tumors in rats. A single intraperitoneal dose of MNU was injected into each of 20 female Sprague-Dawley rats (aged 50 days) to induce tumors. Two weeks after MNU treatment, a time by which the animals had recovered from MNU-induced toxicity, the rats were divided into two groups. Rats in group 1 (n = 10) were fed Purina chow diet, whereas those in group 2 (n = 10) were fed the same diet supplemented with 0.5% NS. After a further 24 weeks, the rats were killed and tumors were excised and processed. NS reduced the incidence of MNU-induced mammary tumors and the number of tumors by 68.4%, and the tumor burden by 60.5%. The inhibitory effect of NS was also reflected by decreased tumor weight; the tumor weights per rat and per group were decreased by 41% and 78%, respectively. In addition, 30% of the control rats developed ulcerated tumors, in contrast to 10% in the nutrient supplemented rats. These findings suggest that the specific formulation of lysine, proline, arginine, ascorbic acid, and green tea extract tested significantly reduces the incidence and growth of MNU-induced mammary tumors, and therefore has strong potential as a useful therapeutic regimen for inhibiting breast cancer development.