Following the signal observation that contact with positively charged dextran resin (PCDR) inhibited the growth of cultured mammary (Hs578T and MDA-MB-231), pancreatic (H2T), and myeloma (RR-658) tumor cell lines, studies were developed in the hamster cheek pouch model using hamster H2T pancreatic tumor cells to determine if the antiproliferative effect of PCDR could inhibit tumorigenesis. In these studies, the control population represented groups injected with H2T cells alone or in combination with either neutral or negatively charged resin. When cells (5 x 10(2) to 1 x 10(5)) and PCDR were administered simultaneously, the tumor incidence (percent engraftment) and growth of tumors that already had been established were significantly reduced. When PCDR was injected into already established 1-35-mm2 H2T tumors (engraftment for 21 days = 96%), the resin suppressed the growth of the smallest tumors (< 10 mm2). In none of these trials was the somatic growth of the host hamsters affected. PCDR contact with H2T cells in vitro for 4 days or used to treat growing solid tumors for 72 days significantly reduced cellular ornithine decarboxylase activity. While the mechanism of PCDR action has not been established, the observations have implications for in vivo tumor therapeutic models.