Influence of the linoleic acid content of the diet on tumor growth in transplantable rat tumor models.

Diets high (17.7 cal%) and low (3.3 cal%) in linoleic acid were given to groups of Brown Norway female rats before and after inoculation of syngeneic tumor models with different characteristics, with regard to tumor spread, malignancy, immunogenicity, growth rate, rat strain, and histopathological features. Despite the differences in characteristics, in most tumor models, tumor growth was identical in both experimental groups. However, in 2 tumor models, an adrenal cortical carcinoma and a myeloid leukemia, differences in growth were noted. In rats given the diet low in linoleic acid, growth of the cortical carcinoma was significantly increased, whereas the opposite effect was seen in rats with myeloid leukemia.