Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0278488 (metastatic breast cancer)
 7,812 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Buserelin represents one of the main LHRH analogues. It appears to be effective in untreated metastatic breast cancer, whereas its activity in pretreated advanced patients remains to be established. To evaluate endocrine and clinical effects of buserelin in pretreated advanced mammary carcinoma, 14 postmenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer, which had been previously treated with hormones and/or chemotherapy, entered the study. Buserelin was subcutaneously injected at a daily dose of 1.5 mg for 7 days, then intranasally at a daily dose of 1.2 mg until progression. Before and after the 7 days of subcutaneous administration of the LHRH analogue, FSH, LH, estradiol, testosterone basal serum levels, and PRL response to TRH were examined. After the 7 days of buserelin subcutaneous injection, a significant decrease in FSH, LH and estradiol values was observed, whereas testosterone was not affected. PRL response to TRH did not change after buserelin subcutaneous treatment in 8 patients, it decreased in one and was completely abolished in the last 5 cases. All patients whose PRL response to TRH did not decrease had a progression within the first month of therapy, whereas only 1 of 6 patients whose PRL response to TRH was reduced or abolished following buserelin administration showed a progression. Among the other 5 cases, 2 minor responses and 3 stable diseases were achieved. These preliminary results suggest that buserelin has only a limited effectiveness in metastatic breast cancer patients who have been previously treated with hormones and/or chemotherapy, and that its activity in the control of tumor growth is associated with a reduction in PRL secretion.
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PMID:Endocrine and clinical effects of an LHRH analogue in pretreated advanced breast cancer. 284 Jul 64

The calcitonin-like immunoreactivity (CT-like immunoreactivity) was measured in blood aspirated from the vascular bed of the anterior pituitary gland during transsphenoidal surgery in 33 patients with PRL-producing microadenomas, 2 patients with Cushing's disease, and 1 patient with metastatic breast cancer with a normal pituitary gland. The mean level of CT-like immunoreactivity in the pituitary vascular bed was 2-3 times higher than in peripheral blood (2.4 +/- 0.9 ng/ml vs. 0.69 +/- 0.19 ng/ml), and the difference was highly significant (P less than 0.001). However, the serum ACTH, hGH, TSH, PRL, and FSH in the pituitary vascular bed was 1000 times or higher than that found in the peripheral blood. The serum CT-like immunoreactivity levels in the pituitary bed in the two patients with Cushing's disease were similar to that found in other patients. Our investigations indicate: 1) CT-like immunoreactivity in man is higher in the blood obtained from the pituitary vascular bed than that found in the peripheral blood; 2) the serum CT-like immunoreactivity level in the pituitary vascular bed is much less than ACTH or the other hormones secreted by the pituitary gland; 3) there is no correlation between CT-like immunoreactivity and ACTH levels.
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PMID:Calcitonin-like immunoreactivity in the pituitary vascular bed of man. 627 Jan 88

Megestrol acetate (MA) is of therapeutic value in breast cancer patients. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of different dosages of MA on endocrine events potentially influenced by the drug in relation to plasma level of MA and clinical effects in patients with advanced breast cancer. Eighteen postmenopausal patients were randomly distributed over six groups to receive daily 90, 180 or 270 mg of MA (niagestin) orally in a cross-over study consisting of 3 periods of 6 weeks. Complete remission was observed in 1 patient, partial remission in 9, no change in 4 and failure in 4 patients. During the 18 weeks of treatment plasma levels of MA gradually increased, irrespective of the dose administered. Significant rises of the basal and TRH-stimulated plasma PRL and basal insulin levels were observed, whereas LH and FSH, estradiol, SHBG and the pituitary-adrenal axis were suppressed. None of these metabolic effects showed a correlation with the clinical response. We concluded that treatment of metastatic breast cancer with 180 mg MA/day is effective and causes minimal adverse effects.
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PMID:Treatment of metastatic breast cancer patients with different dosages of megestrol acetate; dose relations, metabolic and endocrine effects. 636 95

OBJECTIVE: Hyperprolactinemia is a frequent evidence occurring in both metastatic breast cancer and prostate cancer, and it has been proven to be associated with poor prognosis and reduced efficacy of the anticancer therapies. Therefore, the pharmacological control of cancer-related hyperprolactinemia could improve the prognosis of advanced breast and prostate carcinomas. Unfortunately, at present it is still controversial which may be the treatment of cancer-related hyperprolactinemia, which could depend at least in part on a direct autocrine production by cancer cells themselves. The present study was performed to evaluate the acute effects of the long-acting dopaminergic agonist bromocriptine on cancer-related hyperprolactinemia. METHODS: The study included 10 women affected by metastatic breast cancer and 10 men with metastatic prostate cancer, showing persistent hyperprolactinemia. Venous blood samples were collected before bromocriptine, and 2, 4, 10 and 24 hours after bromocriptine administration (2.5 mg orally) serum levels of PRL were measured with the double antibody RIA method. RESULTS: Bromocriptine induced a normalization of PRL levels in both groups of patients with breast and prostate cancers. Moreover, mean levels of PRL persisted significantly lower than those found before therapy during the whole 24-hour circadian period. DISCUSSION: This preliminary study shows that low-dose bromocriptine is sufficient to acutely normalize PRL secretion in both metastatic breast cancer and prostate carcinoma patients, irrespectively of the mechanisms involved in inducing cancer-related hyperprolactinemia. Therefore, low-dose bromocriptine could be recommended in association with the classical antitumor therapies in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and prostate carcinoma patients showing cancer-related hyperprolactinemia, in an attempt to improve the efficacy of anticancer therapies themselves.
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PMID:Efficacy of bromocriptine in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer- and prostate cancer-related hyperprolactinemia. 1145 36