AbstractBecause long‐term oral administration of the adrenal steroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) has previously been shown to inhibit the development of spontaneous breast cancer and chemically induced lung, colon, skin, and liver tumors in various mouse and rat strains, the effect of DHEA on the development of rat kidney tumors by a single dose of 30 mg/kg dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) was tested. DHEA was administered in the diet for a 26‐week period commencing 2 weeks after DMN treatment. DHEA administration caused a reduction in body weight gain in accordance with its known antiobesity activity. However, it did not exert any inhibitory effect on either renal mesenchymal or cortical epithelial tumor induction by DMN, nor did it alter the average survival time. There was a statistically significant increase in the incidence of renal adenocarcinomas in the DHEA‐treated group but not of renal adenomas. The results were discussed in relation to the mesodermal origin of kidney and the potency of single‐dose systems of experimental cancer induction.