Hormone replacement therapy: lipid responses to continuous combined oestrogen and progestogen versus oestrogen monotherapy.

Fifty-five postmenopausal women with climacteric complaints were randomly assigned to treatment with either 2 mg oestradiol valerate (E2V) (cyclic regimen: 21 days of treatment followed by a 7-day treatment-free interval), or 2 mg E2V combined with 1 mg cyproterone acetate (E2V+CPA) daily, over a 6-month period. Treatment was by the oral route in both cases. The aim was to compare the influence of these two hormone replacement therapy regimens on lipid metabolism. Blood samples were obtained before and after 1 and 6 months of treatment. Serum was analyzed for total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoproteins (HDL), apolipoproteins A1 and B and triglycerides. The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) concentrations were derived by calculation. All parameters were evaluated in terms of mean +/- S.D. There was no significant difference in the response of the blood lipids to the two treatments, as assessed by analysis of variance (P greater than 0.05). Serum levels of TC were found to have fallen after month 1 and 6 by 5.3 and 5.6%, respectively, during E2V treatment and by 2.4 and 0.2% during E2V+CPA treatment. Serum HDL levels had increased after months 1 and 6 by 9.7 and 5.2%, respectively, in the E2V group and by 6.9 and 2% in the E2V+CPA group, which was also confirmed by the increase in apolipoprotein A1 levels. There was, however, a borderline increase in LDL and apolipoprotein B in the E2V+CPA group. Serum triglycerides were reduced and serum levels of SHBG increased during treatment in both groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Secretory endometrial protein PP14 in serum from post-menopausal women receiving continuous combined oestradiol-cyproterone acetate: correlation with serum hormone concentrations and bleeding patterns.

The secretory endometrial protein PP14 was measured in serum from 49 healthy, early post-menopausal women receiving continuous combined oestradiol valerate/cyproterone acetate (2 mg E2V + 1 mg CPA daily) or placebo over a period of 2 years. In the hormone group, serum PP14 increased from 2.1 micrograms/l to a maximum of 8.1 micrograms/l after 1 month of treatment, then fell after 3 months to 3.8 micrograms/l and remained at that level for the rest of the 2-year period. After the first month, the occurrence of uterine bleeding was associated with significantly increased serum PP14 levels. Bleeding was not correlated with the serum concentration of 17 beta-oestradiol (E2) or CPA, or the CPA/E2 ratio. Serum PP14 was significantly dependent on the serum concentration of E2, but not on that of CPA. The present data confirm that serum PP14 levels reflect the secretory phase of the endometrium and that bleeding during continuous combined hormone replacement therapy is probably caused by a sub-optimal hormonal balance.

Effects of early postnatal sex steroids on acquisition and extinction of a continuously reinforced lever-pressing response.

The effects of early postnatal dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and estradiol on the sexually dimorphic continuously reinforced lever-pressing response were investigated. 90-day-old male rats postnatally treated (during the first eight days of postnatal life) with cyproterone acetate (CA), tamoxifen (TX) or vehicle, and 90-day-old females treated with estradiol benzoate (EB), DHT or vehicle in the same postnatal period, were studied during the acquisition and extinction of the continuously reinforced lever-pressing response using a free-operant procedure. During acquisition, the control males made more responses per minute than the control females, and also reached the extinction criterion significantly sooner than the females. CA treatment impaired the male's performance at the levels of that shown by females, whereas TX treatment affected neither acquisition nor extinction. Inversely, in both experimental phases females treated with DHT performed like control females, whereas the acquisition and extinction performances of the EB-females were similar to those obtained in the control or TX male groups.

[Hormonal assessment in a woman with acne and alopecia]. / Bilan hormonal chez une femme présentant une acné ou une alopécie.

Acne, androgenogenetic alopecia, hyperseborrhea and hirsutism may result from hyperandrogenism in women. This may be peripheral "idiopathic" hyperandrogenism due to cutaneous metabolism of steroids, but in some cases hyperandrogenism is due to abnormal production or input of steroids with androgenic activity (hyperplasia, endocrine tumors, cysts, consumption of progestogens or other hormones with androgenic activity, menopause...). An assessment is useful only in cases of acne or alopecia if they are accompanied by other signs of peripheral hyperandrogenism and/or disturbed menstruation. The treatment is based on the administration of an anti-androgen (in France, usually cyproterone acetate), combined with other local or systemic treatments for the problem, depending on the age, dermatological signs and context.

Transcriptional regulation of prostate kallikrein-like genes by androgen.

Using gene-specific synthetic oligonucleotides the expression and regulation of kallikrein-like genes in the human prostatic cancer cell line LNCaP were studied. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and human glandular kallikrein (hGK-1) together constitute a subfamily of serine proteases exclusively produced in the human prostate. RNA analysis revealed that both genes are expressed in LNCaP cells with PSA basal levels being 2-fold higher than hGK-1 levels. Both mRNAs are induced over a period of 24 h in the presence of 3.3 nM of the synthetic androgen mibolerone. Stimulation of PSA RNA is about 5-fold, whereas hGK-1 stimulation is less pronounced. Nuclear run-on analysis revealed that androgen induction of kallikrein-like genes in LNCaP cells is a rapid event (less than 3 h) occurring at the level of transcription initiation. Treatment of cells with cycloheximide demonstrates that, while PSA/hGK-1 basal transcription strictly depends on continuous protein synthesis, transcriptional induction by androgen does not. This suggests the direct involvement of the androgen receptor in the induction process independent of additional labile protein factors necessary for kallikrein basal transcription. A binding motif is present in the PSA and hGK-1 promoters, closely resembling the consensus sequence for steroid-responsive elements. The androgen antagonist cyproterone acetate was also able to stimulate transcription of kallikrein-like genes in LNCaP cells. In contrast, androgen-dependent transcriptional suppression of the protooncogene c-myc was strongly counteracted by cyproterone acetate. Thus, antiandrogens act differentially on androgen-regulated prostate-specific (PSA, hGK-1) and growth-related (c-myc) gene expression in LNCaP cells.

Effects of orchiectomy, alone or in combination with testosterone, and cyproterone acetate on exocrine pancreatic carcinogenesis in rats and hamsters.

The results of a previous 4-mo study in azaserine-treated rats and BOP-treated hamsters indicated that orchiectomy inhibited pancreatic growth and development of putative preneoplastic lesions in the exocrine pancreas of rats but not hamsters. This 12-mo study was carried out to investigate the effects of orchiectomy, alone and in combination with testosterone, and of treatment with cyproterone acetate on pancreatic carcinogenesis in azaserine-treated rats and BOP-treated hamsters. Treatment started 4 mo after injection of the carcinogen. In orchiectomized rats, pancreatic wt was lower than in controls, whereas pancreatic wt of orchiectomized rats treated with testosterone was similar to that of controls. Both orchiectomy and cyproterone acetate caused a decrease in body wt gain and had an inhibitory effect on pancreatic carcinogenesis. Testosterone treatment did not influence the inhibitory effects of orchiectomy on body wt gain and on pancreatic carcinogenesis. In hamsters, neither orchiectomy, alone or in combination with testosterone, nor cyproterone acetate (CA) affected pancreatic growth or pancreatic carcinogenesis. This study indicates that testosterone plays a minor role in the development of pancreatic tumors induced in rats by azaserine but not in that of pancreatic tumors induced in hamsters by BOP.

Induction of skin and thyroid tumors in male rats by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea after sequential treatment with cyproterone acetate and testosterone propionate: effects of castration, rat strain and time of carcinogen injection.

The purpose of this study was to determine the carcinogenic effect in male rats of a single i.v. injection of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) after sequential treatment with cyproterone acetate (for 21 days) and testosterone propionate (for 3 days). This treatment has previously been shown to induce carcinomas of the prostate and other male accessory sex glands. A wide spectrum of non-melanoma skin tumors was found in 38-48% of Wistar (Cpb:WU) rats given this sequential treatment, but only in 5% of rats that received only MNU. Castration long and, particularly, early after MNU markedly reduced this skin tumor response to a 10-13% incidence. The skin tumorigenic efficacy of MNU was dependent on the time between the start of the testosterone propionate treatment and carcinogen administration: MNU injection after 48-50 or 60-63 h induced skin tumors in 17-21% of Wistar rats, whereas injection after 72-74 h induced a 48% incidence. The Fischer F344 and Sprague-Dawley strains were not very sensitive to induction of skin tumors by this approach. Thyroid follicular cell tumors were also induced by MNU only after the hormonal pretreatment, and their induction was influenced by the time of MNU injection as well. The time of MNU injection and rat strain used did not significantly influence the induction of sebaceous-squamous neoplasms of the ear-duct/Zymbal's glands or other tumors. These data indicate that endogenous androgens are critically involved in the later stages of rat skin tumorigenesis and suggest that androgen-induced cell proliferation influences the initiation stage of this process and, possibly, of thyroid tumorigenesis.

Disruption of ovarian development in alligator embryos treated with an aromatase inhibitor.

It has been suggested that sex differentiation in vertebrates is steroid hormone dependent, that estrogens play a critical role in ovarian differentiation, and that male sex differentiation will occur in the absence of estrogens. Using the model of the alligator in which sex can be manipulated by incubation conditions (eggs incubated at a constant temperature of 30 degrees produce 100% females, and at 33 degrees produce 100% males), a series of experiments using antiestrogens, antiandrogen, estradiol-17 beta, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and aromatase inhibitors were performed. Test substances were injected into alligator eggs prior to gonadal sex differentiation and the eggs were incubated at male or female temperatures until just before expected date of hatching. Gonads were excised and the sex was verified histologically. Control embryos injected with vehicle produced the expected sex: females at 30 degrees and males at 33 degrees. Estradiol in eggs at 33 degrees (male temperature) produced 100% females and did not alter female development in eggs at 30 degrees. Antiandrogen, DHT, and a steroid antiestrogen had no discernible effect in either the 30 degrees or the 33 degrees eggs at the doses tested. The aromatase inhibitors aminoglutethimide and 4-hydroxyandrostenedione caused a moderate disruption of ovarian development and had no apparent effect on testicular development. The nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor, Ciba Geigy 16949A, caused inhibition of ovarian development in all treated embryos. The Mullerian ducts did not appear to be affected by this treatment, or by any of the other treatments, and the gonads did not appear masculinized. We conclude that estrogen appears to be necessary for normal ovarian development, but that inhibition of estrogen synthesis alone is insufficient to cause masculinization. Likewise, exogenous androgens appear unable to masculinize embryonic gonads. The evidence suggests that testicular differentiation in amniote vertebrates is dependent on factors other than androgens or level of estrogens.

Female's DHT controls sex differences in the rat bed nucleus of the accessory olfactory tract.

In the present study the regulatory action of the non-aromatic androgen dihydrotestoterone (DHT) on the volume of the sexually dimorphic bed nucleus of the accessory olfactory tract (BAOT) was investigated. Postnatal treatment with DHT (180 micrograms day-1) between days 6 and 20 (D6-D20) induced, in gonadally intact male rats, a drastic reduction in the overall volume to levels typical in control females. Conversely, the postnatal administration of the anti-androgen cyproterone acetate (CA) to the females from D6-D20 produced an increment in the BAOT volume not dissimilar to that found in control males. These findings reveal that sexual organization in this vomeronasal structure is dependent on the presence of DHT in females during postnatal development.

Apoptosis, cell proliferation and c-ras expression during and after cyproterone acetate (CPA) induced liver hyperplasia.

Cell proliferation and cell death appear in several systems as mutually exclusive, which raises the assumption that a same factor or secondary signal(s) might exert opposite control on the two processes. To test this assumption we investigated the time-course evolution of the S phase and apoptotic indices in rat liver during cyproterone acetate (CPA) induced hyperplasia and during the recovery of normal liver mass provoked, respectively, by cyproterone acetate (CPA) treatment and withdrawal. The levels of c-myc and c-ras transcripts were also followed in view of the indications of a positive role of these oncogenes in proliferation. The data showed that proliferation and cell death are not always mutually exclusive and that a high rate of cell death was indifferently associated with high or low c-ras expression. Our data are consistent with a role of this gene in proliferation but exclude that it plays an opposite role in controlling cell death.

Testosterone induction of poly(A)(+)-RNA synthesis and [35S]methionine incorporation into proteins of Rana esculenta Harderian gland.

The role of androgens in the cyclic secretory activity of the Rana esculenta Harderian gland (HG) was studied. Total RNA showed a dramatic increase in October and May when the nuclear androgen receptors peak. During the resumption of the secretory activity a gradual increase of poly(A)(+)-RNA was detected; during the enhancement phase (May) a peak of the poly(A)(+)-RNA fraction was found. In in vitro experiments testosterone increased the incorporation of [3H]uridine into the poly(A)(+)-RNA fraction and also that of [35S]methionine into a newly synthesized protein fraction (100 kDa). The latter effect is prevented by the exposure of the cells to the antiandrogen, cyproterone acetate (CPA). These findings reveal that, besides hamsters, the HG is a target for androgens in the frog.

Fifteen years' experience of combined hormone/chemotherapy in metastatic prostate cancer.

Fifteen years ago we embarked on a treatment protocol for prostatic cancer patients with widespread disease (Stage D2) which included both hormonotherapy (i.e., orchiectomy and diethylstilbestrol [DES] 5 mg/day--later substituted with cyproterone acetate [CPA] 0.2 g/day) and chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide and 5-fluorouracil 10 mg/kg/week). The rationale for such an approach was the universally poor results obtained from the conventional approach which advocated consecutive single-treatment schedules once the previous therapy had ceased to be effective. As such a conventional approach probably allowed the selection of new resistant cell clones, we assumed that perhaps an aggressive combined systemic therapeutic approach from the start, would give such a group of patients--already with generalized disease--a better long-term result. In retrospect, after fifteen years, the chemotherapy on a series of 50 patients so treated has been well tolerated with only minimal, temporary side effects. This regimen was continued up to five years with a reduced maintenance dose. The hormonotherapy was also well tolerated, and was fully maintained. Only 28 percent died of their disease (16% within the first 2 years); 28 percent died of other causes; 40 percent are still alive (14% with clinical disease). In only 9 cases was the chemotherapy discontinued for various reasons. No control arm was originally designed in this protocol, but the long-term results suggest that our original concept was probably valid. Further studies, with the possible use also of newer chemotherapeutic agents, may well justify considering this combined therapeutic approach when dealing with this disease in its widespread form.

Therapeutic alternatives for the hirsute woman.

A retrospective analysis of 21 hirsute women seen at a gynaecological endocrine clinic revealed a high incidence of infertility, menstrual irregularities and abnormal androgen profile. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) was the underlying abnormality in the majority of cases. Cyproterone acetate (CPA) with ethinyl oestradiol in a reverse sequential regime was more effective and better tolerated but much more expensive than the combination of spironolactone and the oral contraceptive pill (OCP).

Androgens and androgen-receptors in prostate tissue from patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia: effects of cyproterone acetate.

Testosterone, 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone and cyproterone acetate (CPA) were estimated in samples of prostate tissue, obtained from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients who were or were not pretreated with CPA. Furthermore, these steroids were estimated in various fractions of the BPH tissue, and the number of nuclear androgen-receptor sites was determined. CPA-treatment caused a 4-fold, significant suppression of 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone levels in total prostate tissue and its subfractions, without affecting testosterone levels or the androgen-receptor contents of the nuclear extracts. Nuclear concentrations of CPA were twice as high as those of 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone. It is concluded that effects of CPA may have been caused through a combination of the following mechanisms: (1) suppression of peripheral androgen levels; (2) competition with androgens for (nuclear) androgen-receptors; and (3) suppression of prostatic 5 alpha-reductase.

Cyproterone acetate induces DNA damage in cultured rat hepatocytes and preferentially stimulates DNA synthesis in gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase-positive cells.

The synthetic anti-androgen and progestin cyproterone acetate (CPA) is known to increase the liver tumor rate in rats. The tumorigenicity of CPA has been attributed to a tumor-promoting activity of the steroid. In order to discover whether CPA acts directly on preneoplastic liver cells or via indirect effects, we investigated whether CPA stimulates replicative DNA synthesis in vitro in hepatocytes isolated from carcinogen-treated rats (two-thirds hepatectomy, 1 x 30 mg diethylnitrosamine per kg and 0.1% phenobarbital in the drinking water) and whether the degree of stimulation differs in gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT)-positive, putatively preneoplastic and GGT-negative, 'normal' hepatocytes. The possibility that CPA might also have initiating potential was investigated by studying its effects on DNA repair synthesis. Stimulation of [3H]thymidine incorporation into the DNA by CPA was only observed in the presence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) (10 ng/ml) and insulin (10 mU/ml). Maximal effects were obtained between 2 and 10 microM. DNA synthesis in the presence of EGF/insulin was reduced by the 'pure' anti-androgen flutamide, but stimulated by the 'pure' progestin promegestone. In the presence of CPA, EGF and insulin, the labelling index was twice as high in GGT-positive as in GGT-negative liver cells, regardless of whether mitogens were added at 48 or 72 h. The labelling index did not differ in the GGT-positive and negative hepatocytes when CPA was omitted. These findings are consistent with the idea that CPA has tumor-promoting activity. CPA significantly induced repair synthesis in the isolated hepatocytes from both untreated and carcinogen-treated rats. This increase was detected at a concentration as low as 2 microM and maximal effects were obtained at 20 microM. These results indicate that CPA is not only a tumor-promoting, but also a genotoxic chemical, i.e. that it might also have an initiating potential.