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The Carcinogenic Potency Project

Diethylstilbestrol (CAS 56-53-1)
SMILES, InChI and Structure are below.
Rats and Mice: Cancer Test Summary
Rat Target Sites Mouse Target Sites TD50 (mg/kg/day)
Male Female Male Female Rat Mouse
adr pit liv pit mgl pit tes thy mgl ova pit thy ute 0.223m,v 0.0391m

Key to the Table Above

Positivity: For each chemical with a positive (carcinogenic) experiment in the Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB), results are included on carcinogenic potency (TD50) in each species and target sites in males and females. Positivity is determined by an author’s opinion in a published paper. If all experimental results in the CDPB are negative in a sex-species group, “no positive” appears. If the CPDB has no experiments in the sex-species group, “no test” appears. The summary presents the strongest evidence of carcinogenicity in each group. If there are both positive and negative experiments in a sex-species, the negative results are ignored in this Summary Table.
Target Site Codes:   adr = adrenal gland. liv = liver. mgl = mammary gland. ova = ovary. pit = pituitary gland. tes = testes. thy = thyroid gland. ute = uterus. Target sites are listed if any author of published experimental results concluded that tumors were induced in that organ by the test agent. If there is more than one positive experiment in a sex-species, target sites listed may be from more than one experiment, e.g. if liver and lung are both listed, then liver may have been a target in one experiment and lung in another.
TD50: Our standardized measure of carcinogenic potency, TD50, is the daily dose rate in mg/kg body weight/day to induce tumors in half of test animals that would have remained tumor-free at zero dose. Whenever there is more than one positive experiment in a species, the reported TD50 value is a Harmonic Mean calculated using the TD50 value from the most potent target site in each positive experiment.
Superscripts:   m = There is more than one positive experiment in the species, and TD50 values from each positive experiment are used in the calculation of the reported Harmonic mean of TD50. v = Variation is greater than ten-fold among statistically significant (two-tailed p<0.1) TD50 values from different positive experiments.

The Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB) is a unique and widely used international resource of the results of 6540 chronic, long-term animal cancer tests on 1547 chemicals. The CPDB provides easy access to the bioassay literature, with qualitative and quantitative analyses of both positive and negative experiments that have been published over the past 50 years in the general literature through 2001 and by the National Cancer Institute/National Toxicology Program through 2004. The CPDB standardizes the diverse literature of cancer bioassays that vary widely in protocol, histopathological examination and nomenclature, and in the published author’s choices of what information to provide in their papers. Results are reported in the CPDB for tests in rats, mice, hamsters, dogs, and nonhuman primates.

For each experiment, information is included on species, strain, and sex of test animal; features of experimental protocol such as route of administration, duration of dosing, dose level(s) in mg/kg body weight/day, and duration of experiment; experimental results are provided on target organ, tumor type, and tumor incidence; carcinogenic potency (TD50) and its statistical significance; shape of the dose-response, author’s opinion as to carcinogenicity, and literature citation.

Only tests with dosing for at least ¼ the standard lifespan of the species and experiment length at least ½ the lifespan are included in the CPDB. Only routes of administration with whole body exposure are included. Doses are standardized, average dose rates in mg/kg/day. A description of methods used in the CPDB to standardize the diverse literature of animal cancer tests is presented for: 1) Criteria for inclusion of experiments 2) Standardization of average daily dose levels and 3) TD50 estimation for a standard lifespan. See Methods for other details.

TD50 provides a standardized quantitative measure that can be used for comparisons and analyses of many issues in carcinogenesis. The range of TD50 values across chemicals that are rodent carcinogens is more than 100 million-fold. More than half the chemicals tested are positive in at least one experiment.

A plot of all results on each experiment in the CPDB for this chemical is presented below. These results are the source information for the Cancer Test Summary table above.

Diethylstilbestrol: All Experiments and Citations in CPDB

The definition of each code in the plot below will appear in a pop-up window when the field name in the header line is clicked, e.g., Strain, Site, Path. Each numbered line starts a new experiment and reports protocol information in black. Average daily dose-rates per kg body weight per day are in green. Remaining lines report experimental results in blue.

Abbreviations of fields in header line: # = the line number in the plot of all CPDB chemicals; Xpo = duration of dosing; Xpt = duration of experiment; Site = tissue; Path = tumor type; DR = dose-response; AuOp = author’s opinion about carcinogenicity; LoConf, UpConf = confidence limits (99%) on TD50; Inc = tumor incidence for each dose group.

See Guide to reading the plot for details on each field, using an example of one experiment.

See Help to improve readability, or to fit the plot onto the screen or a printed page.



Chemical (Synonym) CAS
# Species Sex Strain Route Xpo+Xpt PaperNum        0 Dose  1 Dose 2 Dose  3 Dose          Literature Reference or NCI/NTP:Site Path
Site Path Notes   TD50  DR Pval    AuOp LoConf UpConf   Cntrl   1 Inc  2 Inc   3 Inc                                                        Brkly Code

DIETHYLSTILBESTROL  (DES) 56-53-1
2154 M f b62 eat 33m36 1936r                         0    650.ng  1.30ug  2.60ug  5.20ug  20.8ug  41.6ug  83.2ug           Greenman;
                                                                                                           jtxe,29,269-278;1990/1988
 pit ade aes    45.6ug * P<.0005 +  34.6ug 62.2ug   7/57    8/56    9/61   10/53   16/53   41/61   47/62   54/60
 thy fca aes    .186mg Z P<.003  +  82.4ug 1.49mg   4/58    1/45    3/50    2/50    5/55   10/51   (2/49    1/53)
 cvx sqc aes    1.03mg * P<.0005 +  .567mg 2.19mg   0/72    0/71    0/72    0/72    0/71    1/72    2/68   12/72
 ute mso aes    1.72mg * P<.0005 +  .810mg 4.69mg   0/67    0/71    0/72    0/70    0/70    0/69    2/66    7/71
 ova gct aes    1.74mg * P<.03      .839mg n.s.s.   0/57    1/64    0/63    2/66    0/57    5/62    2/48    3/61
 pit adc aes    17.0mg * P<.8       1.24mg n.s.s.   1/57    0/56    0/61    0/53    3/53    3/61    1/62    1/60
2155 M m b62 eat 34m37 1936r                         0    600.ng  1.20ug  2.40ug  4.80ug  19.2ug  38.4ug  76.8ug
 tes ict aes    66.1ug Z P<.0005 +  52.3ug 84.8ug   1/71    1/70    2/70    1/72    1/70   15/68   56/68   60/71
 pit ade aes    79.4ug * P<.0005 +  61.2ug .107mg   0/51    1/55    2/52    2/53    6/51   25/56   34/59   38/57
 pit adc aes    4.36mg * P<.4       1.01mg n.s.s.   0/51    0/55    0/52    0/53    1/51    2/56    2/59    0/57
2156 M f bcn eat 31m31 1936n                         0    650.ng  1.30ug  2.60ug  5.20ug  20.8ug  41.6ug  83.2ug
 ova gct ae     .166mg Z P<.0005 +  .104mg .291mg   1/36    0/65    0/55    0/56    0/63   10/69   17/57  (14/57)
 pit ade ae     .200mg Z P<.0005 +  .137mg .307mg   0/48    0/53    1/51    0/48    0/50    3/53    3/52   35/65
 cvx sqc ae     .311mg * P<.0005 +  .205mg .512mg   1/68    0/72    1/67    0/68    1/68    2/72    9/64   23/72
 mgl adb ae     .476mg * P<.0005 +  .259mg 1.29mg   1/58    1/62    4/62    4/57    3/57    6/62    4/59   16/67
 cvx ado ae     1.28mg * P<.0005 +  .605mg 3.50mg   0/63    0/71    0/66    0/66    0/68    1/71    2/64    6/70
 vag sqc ae     1.31mg * P<.003     .550mg 10.6mg   0/65    0/71    0/64    2/65    1/68    1/71    4/64    4/70
 mgl ado ae     1.88mg * P<.004  +  .718mg 19.3mg   0/58    0/62    1/62    0/57    0/57    1/62    1/59    4/67
 pit adc ae     5.10mg * P<.2       1.26mg n.s.s.   0/48    0/53    0/51    0/48    0/50    1/53    0/52    1/65
 ute adc ae     5.32mg * P<.3       1.19mg n.s.s.   0/63    0/71    0/66    2/66    0/68    0/71    2/64    1/70
2157 M m bcn eat 28m29 1936n                         0    600.ng  1.20ug  2.40ug  4.80ug  19.2ug  38.4ug  76.8ug
 tes ict aes    21.5ug Z P<.0005 +  17.0ug 27.2ug   0/72    2/70    2/64    3/68    2/71   40/69   65/70   69/69
 pit ade aes    .171mg Z P<.0005 +  95.3ug .373mg   0/50    0/52    1/47    0/46    0/46   10/50    5/40   (5/56)
2158 M m c3c eat 24m24 109m                          0    30.0ug  60.0ug                                   Okey;jnci,40,225-230;1968
 mgl car er     35.9ug * P<.0005 +  27.9ug 46.9ug   0/78   48/92   58/94
2159 M m c3c eat 24m24 109n                          0    30.0ug  60.0ug
 mgl car er     42.1ug \ P<.0005 +  27.7ug 68.1ug   0/78   34/88  (35/92)
2160 M m c3c eat 24m24 109o                          0    30.0ug  60.0ug
 mgl car er     78.9ug * P<.0005 +  57.1ug .113mg   0/78   26/93   32/89
2161 M f c3h eat 85w85 106a                          0    813.ng  1.63ug  3.25ug  6.50ug  13.0ug  65.0ug  .130mg               Gass;
                                                                                                                jnci,33,971-977;1964
 mgl car Lr     29.2ug * P<.0005    19.4ug 48.1ug  40/121  27/56   26/60   26/60   36/68   42/64   50/59   50/58
2162 M f c3h eat 24m24 1131                          0    32.5ug                                                Gass;ircs,5,477;1977
 mgl adc Lr     26.0ug   P<.0005    15.7ug 55.6ug  16/64   45/66
2163 M f c3j eat 52w52 1468m                         0    1.30ug  13.0ug  65.0ug                Highman;jept,4,81-95;1980/pers.comm.
 mgl adc ek     82.5ug * P<.03      30.2ug n.s.s.   2/43    0/29    3/35    6/41
2164 M f c3j eat 78w78 1468n                         0    1.30ug  13.0ug
 ova tua ek     22.2ug * P<.3       5.68ug n.s.s.   2/14    5/24    6/18
 mgl adc ek     no dre   P=1.       11.8ug n.s.s.   1/13    7/22    2/16
2165 M f c3j eat 24m24 1468o                         0    1.30ug  13.0ug  65.0ug
 mgl adc ek     14.2mg * P<1.       35.5ug n.s.s.   4/24   10/38    3/9     1/5
 ova tua ek     no dre   P=1.       35.7ug n.s.s.  12/24   19/40    7/11    2/6
2166 M f c3v eat 25m25 1852m                         0    83.2ug                            Greenman;jnci,77,891-898;1986/pers.comm.
 mgl mix e      24.7ug   P<.0005 +  19.0ug 32.3ug   4/73  167/182
 mgl adb e      30.2ug   P<.0005    23.7ug 38.9ug   2/73  158/182
 mgl ada e      2.63mg   P<.5       .673mg n.s.s.   2/73    9/182
 liv ade e      no dre   P=1.       3.29mg n.s.s.   3/77    0/181
 lun act e      no dre   P=1.       1.97mg n.s.s.   5/75    3/182
 liv adc e      no dre   P=1.       2.93mg n.s.s.  10/77    1/181
2167 M f c3v eat 26m26 1852n                         0    83.2ug
 mgl mix e      42.7ug   P<.0005 +  33.7ug 55.3ug   4/73  151/189
 mgl adb e      43.4ug   P<.0005    34.3ug 55.6ug   2/73  149/189
 --- mso e      .928mg   P<.003     .490mg 4.06mg   0/77   13/189
 ute ena e      2.05mg   P<.05      .836mg n.s.s.   0/77    6/189
 cvu adc e      2.47mg   P<.07      .936mg n.s.s.   0/77    5/189
 liv adc e      no dre   P=1.       2.24mg n.s.s.  10/77    5/188
 liv ade e      no dre   P=1.       3.74mg n.s.s.   3/77    0/188
 lun act e      no dre   P=1.       1.71mg n.s.s.   5/75    5/189
 mgl ada e      no dre   P=1.       2.13mg n.s.s.   2/73    2/189
2168 M f c3v eat 29m29 1852o                         0    83.2ug
 mgl mix e      87.2ug   P<.0005 +  67.3ug .118mg   4/73  117/185
 mgl adb e      95.6ug   P<.0005    73.9ug .128mg   2/73  109/185
 --- mso e      .520mg   P<.0005    .331mg .932mg   0/77   28/191
 cvu adc e      1.17mg   P<.004     .616mg 5.24mg   0/77   13/191
 ute ena e      1.71mg   P<.02      .804mg n.s.s.   0/77    9/191
 mgl ada e      2.10mg   P<.3       .737mg n.s.s.   2/73   12/185
 liv adc e      no dre   P=1.       1.85mg n.s.s.  10/77   10/191
 liv ade e      no dre   P=1.       2.05mg n.s.s.   3/77    4/191
 lun act e      no dre   P=1.       1.70mg n.s.s.   5/75    7/191
2169 M f c3v eat 29m29 1852r                         0    83.2ug
 mgl mix e      .115mg   P<.0005 +  86.3ug .164mg   4/73   96/182
 mgl adb e      .118mg   P<.0005    89.3ug .163mg   2/73   92/182
 --- mso e      .487mg   P<.0005    .312mg .860mg   0/77   29/192
 cvu adc e      1.66mg   P<.02      .783mg n.s.s.   0/77    9/192
 ute ena e      1.87mg   P<.02      .849mg n.s.s.   0/77    8/192
 mgl ada e      4.39mg   P<.5       1.04mg n.s.s.   2/96    7/182
 liv adc e      no dre   P=1.       1.81mg n.s.s.  10/77   10/192
 liv ade e      no dre   P=1.       2.00mg n.s.s.   3/77    4/192
 lun act e      no dre   P=1.       1.00mg n.s.s.   5/75   12/192
2170 M f c7b eat 34m37 1936o                         0    650.ng  1.30ug  2.60ug  5.20ug  20.8ug  41.6ug  83.2ug           Greenman;
                                                                                                           jtxe,29,269-278;1990/1988
 pit ade aes    38.7ug * P<.0005 +  29.6ug 51.9ug   4/55    6/55   10/54   14/55   19/63   50/67   54/64   59/64
 cvx sqc aes    1.98mg * P<.0005 +  .933mg 5.40mg   0/71    0/68    0/71    0/67    0/68    0/72    4/72    5/72
 pit adc aes    2.01mg * P<.03      .765mg n.s.s.   0/55    0/55    0/54    1/55    2/63    2/67    5/64    2/64
 mgl adb aes    no dre   P=1.    +  .647mg n.s.s.   0/56    0/54    4/58    4/61    5/64    5/61    1/65   (0/61)
 thy fca aes    no dre   P=1.       1.26mg n.s.s.   1/43    1/45    1/50    0/49    1/50    4/54    2/61    0/42
2171 M m c7b eat 35m39 1936o                         0    600.ng  1.20ug  2.40ug  4.80ug  19.2ug  38.4ug  76.8ug
 tes ict aes    40.8ug Z P<.0005 +  32.4ug 51.9ug   0/72    1/66    0/71    1/70    1/65   37/67   70/71   65/67
 pit ade aes    72.2ug Z P<.0005 +  53.5ug .101mg   1/52    1/49    1/58    2/53    3/47   32/60   36/64  (24/57)
 pit adc aes    no dre   P=1.       1.04mg n.s.s.   0/52    0/49    0/58    1/53    0/47    8/60    0/64    0/57
2172 M f cb6 eat 27m33 1936m                         0    650.ng  1.30ug  2.60ug  5.20ug  20.8ug  41.6ug  83.2ug
 pit ade aes    25.9ug * P<.0005 +  17.9ug 39.3ug  21/57   22/60   21/65   32/63   49/65   46/53   59/62   58/62
 pit adc aes    no dre   P=1.       1.65mg n.s.s.   1/57    1/60    4/65    0/63    3/65    1/53    0/62    2/62
 thy fct aes    no dre   P=1.    +  .504mg n.s.s.  13/64   11/56   10/51   10/55   16/61   14/48    4/60   (0/50)
2173 M m cb6 eat 29m36 1936m                         0    600.ng  1.20ug  2.40ug  4.80ug  19.2ug  38.4ug  76.8ug
 pit ade aes    17.6ug Z P<.0005 +  13.3ug 23.7ug   0/52    2/57    3/57   13/59   21/59   51/64  (39/62   22/43)
 thy fct aes    50.0ug Z P<.0005 +  32.7ug 84.1ug   2/48    0/51    1/47    3/48    6/51   27/54   (3/58    0/43)
 tes ict aes    .257mg Z P<.0005 +  .155mg .489mg   0/70    1/71    0/66    0/69    1/69    3/64   17/61   (3/52)
 pit adc aes    1.42mg * P<.0005    .592mg 6.74mg   0/52    0/57    1/57    0/59    1/59    0/64    2/62    5/43
2174 M f cbj eat 52w52 1468r                         0    1.30ug  13.0ug  65.0ug                Highman;jept,4,81-95;1980/pers.comm.
 mgl tum ek     no dre   P=1.       2.06ug n.s.s.   0/17    0/38    0/18    0/30
2175 M f cbj eat 78w78 1468s                         0    1.30ug  13.0ug  65.0ug
 mgl adc ek     .295mg * P<.04      89.2ug n.s.s.   0/31    0/40    1/33    2/29
 ova tua ek     .329mg * P<.3       70.9ug n.s.s.   0/34    5/42    3/34    4/31
2176 M f cbj eat 24m24 1468t                         0    1.30ug  13.0ug  65.0ug
 ova tua ek     .597mg * P<.8       48.1ug n.s.s.   9/29   10/31   12/36    4/11
2177 M f cbj eat 30m30 1468u                         0    1.30ug
 ova tua ek     no dre   P=1.       2.14ug n.s.s.   4/11    3/12
 mgl adc ek     no dre   P=1.       3.54ug n.s.s.   3/11    1/12
2178 R f cdr eat 21m24 108                           0    20.0ug  .200mg                                 Gibson;txap,11,489-510;1967
 liv hpt aes    .130mg \ P<.1    -  32.0ug n.s.s.   0/20    2/20   (0/20)
2179 R m cdr eat 21m24 108                           0    20.0ug  .200mg
 liv tum aes    no dre   P=1.    -  74.9ug n.s.s.   0/20    0/20    0/20
2180 R m cdr eat 66w66 333                           0    .160mg                                       Newberne;aenh,19,489-498;1969
 pit cra        .114mg   P<.002  +  53.3ug .391mg   0/20    9/28
 liv nod        .390mg   P<.07      .118mg n.s.s.   0/20    3/28
 adr coa        .390mg   P<.07   +  .118mg n.s.s.   0/20    3/28
 liv car        1.21mg   P<.3       .198mg n.s.s.   0/20    1/28
2181 R f sda gav 52w52 2136                          0    10.0mg                            Williams;clet,68,193-198;1993/pers.comm.
 liv hpc        4.80mg   P<.04   +  1.44mg n.s.s.   0/10    3/10
 pit ade        7.68mg   P<.09   +  1.88mg n.s.s.   0/10    2/10
 liv hpa        16.3mg   P<.3       2.64mg n.s.s.   0/10    1/10
Mutagenicity in Salmonella: negative
SMILES Code for Diethylstilbestrol: C(=C(\C1C=CC(=CC=1)O)CC)(/C2=CC=C(C=C2)O)CC
InChI Code for Diethylstilbestrol: InChI=1/C18H20O2/c1-3-17(13-5-9-15(19)10-6-13)18(4-2)14-7-11-16(20)12-8-14/h5-12,19-20H,3-4H2,1-2H3/b18-17+
Source for SMILES and InChI: USEPA Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) Database
Chemical Structure for Diethylstilbestrol: Chemical Structure
Source for structure: National Library of Medicine ChemIDPlus

See full CPDB Summary Table on 1547 chemicals. See Full CPDB for all results on 6540 experiments of 1547 chemicals.

A complete list of CPDB chemicals, which is searchable by name or by CAS number, is available here.

For a compendium of CPDB results organized by target organ, which lists all chemicals in each species that induced tumors in each of 35 organs, see Summary Table by Target Organ.

The CPDB is available in several formats that permit printing and downloading into spreadsheets and statistical databases.

  1. A plot of the CPDB presents results of 1547 experiments on 6540 chemicals in an easily readable format that has been used in publications of the CPDB.
  2. A Screen version plot for use on a single computer screen, with the same data.
  3. Excel version of the same data.
  4. Tab-separated versions of the same data, which can be easily read into databases.

A Supplementary Dataset gives details on dosing and survival for each experiment.

Relatively precise estimates of the lower confidence limit on the TD10 (LTD10) are readily calculated from the TD50 and its lower confidence limit, which are reported in the CPDB. For researchers and regulatory agencies interested in LTD10 values, we provide them in an Excel spreadsheet.

PDF versions of our publications of analyses using the CPDB are available, organized by year and by research topic.

Carcinogenic Potency Database Project (CPDB) Home Page
For more information about this Web Page, contact Specialized Information Services (support@leadscope.com).
Last updated: October 3, 2007


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