Study Results Support Progestin Use To Reduce Risk.

2001 MAR 22 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medical prevention of ovarian cancer may be possible for all women in the future, according to Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers in North Carolina.

They report finding a second biologic pathway in monkeys that helps explain birth control pills' protective effect against ovarian cancer.

The results of new laboratory research indicate that the pills' protective effect is not due solely to preventing ovulation, suggesting that chemoprevention of ovarian cancer could be extended to women who are not ovulating or who are not interested in contraception, said Dr. Gustavo Rodriguez. He prepared the study findings for presentation March 4, 2001, at the annual meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO).

The new study builds on the researchers' previous analysis of ovaries from monkeys, which found that progestin, which is a component of birth control pills, stimulates damaged cells on the ovary surface to begin committing cellular suicide in a process called apoptosis, effectively eradicating the very cells most likely to become cancerous.

Now the scientists report that progestin-exposed surface cells also produce higher amounts of a certain protein, called TGF-[beta], that is known to be involved in several cancer-preventing cellular pathways. In addition, the amounts of TGF-[beta] in the progestin-exposed ovaries correlated well with the percentage of cells undergoing suicide.

"Long-term survival of ovarian cancer patients has only improved modestly in the last decade, ...