Studies of the molecular mechanisms of esophageal cancer development have to be carried out on sufficient amount of tumor material, obtained under conditions of controlled exposure to carcinogenic factors. Esophageal cancer models on laboratory animals serve an indispensable source of this material. One of these models is esophageal cancer induction in rats by N-nitroso compound precursors. Despite adequate reproduction of human esophageal cancer, this model in fact has not been used since the 1990ies. Re-examination of esophageal cancer model, induced by N-nitrososarcosine ethyl ester precursors, is carried out and its efficiency in induction of squamous cell carcinoma is confirmed.
Keywords: N-nitrosocompounds; N-nitrososarcosine precursors; esophageal cancer model.