Raloxifene May Increase Cancer Growth Rate.(ovarian cancer)

2001 AUG 9- (NewsRx Network) -- The drug raloxifene may increase the growth rate of ovarian cancer and its risk of recurrence, according to researchers.

Speaking at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology's annual meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, July 3, 2001, David Tourgeman, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC), presented data on the effects of raloxifene both alone and in combination with estradiol on ovarian cancer cell lines in the laboratory. The title of his presentation was "Agonistic Effects of Raloxifene on the Growth of Ovarian Adenocarcinoma (OVCAR-3) Cells."

Raloxifene is a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) that has been approved in the United States for use in patients with osteoporosis but has also been looked at as a possible agent for women needing estrogen replacement therapy (ERT).

Past research has shown that raloxifene actually has antiestrogenic effects in human breast cancer cells, making it a potentially safe ERT alternative for women who have had breast cancer. In addition, it doesn't seem to increase the risk of uterine cancer in postmenopausal women. To date, however, not much work has been done on the drug's effects on ovarian cancer, despite the fact that ovarian cancer, too, is a hormone-driven disease, noted Tourgeman.

Along with Richard Paulson, MD, Keck School professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and their USC colleagues, Tourgeman found that both raloxifene and estradiol stimulated cell growth in ovarian adenocarcinoma cells that carried estrogen receptors on their cell ...