High doses of the female hormone, progesterone, can destroy the cells of neuroblastoma – a dangerous cancer in children – according to research conducted, among others, by on mice, which is published by Molecular Medicine.
Importantly, this method leaves healthy cells intact, emphasize researchers at Emory University in Atlanta (USA), who wrote the study.
At the same time, they stipulate that more research is needed to determine the optimal dose of the hormone, the length of possible therapy with its participation and whether it should be used alone or in combination with radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
Neuroblastoma (also known as neuroblastoma) is a malignant neoplasm originating from the cells that form the nervous system – neuroblasts.
It is the most common cancer in infants and half of its cases are diagnosed in children under 2 years of age.
It is usually located in the adrenal medulla, the cells of which produce two hormones – noradrenaline and adrenaline, or in the sympathetic ganglia in the abdominal cavity. But it can also develop in the chest, cervical ganglia, under the skin – in the form of small lumps of a bluish color.
The disease has a wide variety of symptoms. This includes, among others anemia, weight loss, drowsiness, pallor, weakness, irritability, high blood pressure, but also constipation, nausea and diarrhea, abdominal pain, urinary retention, curvature of the spine, damage to the sympathetic innervation of the eye (Horner’s syndrome) and problems with the eyesight such as bleeding into the retina, swelling of the eyelids and conjunctiva, strabismus
How neuroblastoma is treated depends on its severity. In the least advanced stages of the disease, surgical treatment is used, in more advanced stages – chemotherapy and radiotherapy are added to it.
But scientists are constantly looking for new methods that would increase the effectiveness of treating children with neuroblastoma. Much research is currently being done in this direction.
The team from Emory University under the supervision of prof. Don Stein began testing progesterone inspired by his earlier discovery that the hormone protects healthy nerve cells that are exposed to stress following brain injury from damage. Currently, in medical centers in the USA, phase III clinical trials are underway on the use of progesterone in the treatment of patients after acute brain trauma.
In the latest experience, the team of prof. Steina showed that progesterone slows the growth of neuroblastoma tumors in mice in half over a period of eight days. However, it has not been observed to harm healthy neurons and overall animal health.
Further tests showed that progesterone decreased the production of compounds that stimulate the growth of new blood vessels in cancer cells, which nourish the tumor and help it metastasize to other tissues.
Research conducted in another institution has shown that low doses of progesterone (lower than the most effective dose used by Prof. Stein and his colleagues) accelerate tumor growth.
Therefore, researchers at Emory University believe that high doses of this hormone must be used in the fight against certain types of cancer.
Progesterone (or rather its synthetic progestogen analogues) has long been used in hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women and for the maintenance of pregnancy and prevention of premature births. His role is, inter alia, by regulating the development of the placenta, through which the exchange of nutrients, gases and metabolic products between mother and fetus.
If progesterone were ever to be used in the treatment of young patients with neuroblastoma, its benefits would have to be weighed against the harms of its potentially negative impact on children’s development, the authors emphasize.
Scientists from Emory University plan in the future to check whether this hormone can inhibit the growth of other neoplasms originating from nervous tissue, such as glioblastoma (Latin glioblastoma) or astrocytoma (Latin astrocytoma). (PAP)