EFFECT OF SYNTHETIC PROTEASE INHIBITOR ON HISTOLOGIC-CHANGES AND FREE-RADICAL ACTIVITY IN HAMSTERS WITH PANCREATIC-CANCER

To investigate the effects of synthetic trypsin inhibitors on pancreat ic cancer, camostat (FOY-305) was administered orally to hamsters with experimental pancreatic cancer induced by diisopropanol nitrosamine ( DIPN). The effect of free radicals on carcinogenesis was examined by m easuring the tissue levels of the scavengers superoxide dismutase (SOD ) and glutathione peroxidase (GSX-Px), and pancreatic tissues were exa mined histologically. Cancers developed in all hamsters that survived 24 weeks in the DIPN group and the FOY group. but 80% of the cancers i n the DIPN group were tubular adenocarcinomas, and 91% of those in the FOY group papillary adenocarcinomas. The SOD activity in the DIPN gro up was significantly lower in the cancerous area and the borderline re gion than in the non-cancerous region and normal tissue. SOD activity in the cancerous and borderline regions was higher in the FOY groups t han in the DIPN group. GSH-Px levels in the borderline and non-cancero us regions were significantly higher in the FOY group than in the DIPN group. These results suggest that the synthetic protease inhibitor sl ows the progress of pancreatic cancer by its free radical scavenging a ctivity.