Pregnancy associated highly vascularized tumours negatively correlate with the levels of anti-angiogenic 17 alpha-hydroxy-progesterone.
Seventeen alpha hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP, is an anti-angiogenic steroid. The existence of a significant negative correlation between the levels of 17-OHP and the appearance of highly vascularized brain and spinal tumours seen during pregnancy is described. However, glioma appears to be an exception to this rule. This exception may be due to the blood brain barrier which permits only a small proportion of the synthesized 17-OHP to reach the brain and may be due to gliomas not being highly vascularized. It is proposed that testing the efficacy of 17-OHP as an anti-angiogenic agent in the highly vascularized brain and spinal tumours would be useful since 17-OHP is essentially without any foreseeable side effects even in large doses, inexpensive, widely available, and in some cases may be conveniently administered via a nasal inhaler.
Rao
B R
BR
Department of Endocrinology, Academisch Ziekenhuis Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
D019326:17-alpha-Hydroxyprogesterone / Q000097:blood*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011252:Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic / Q000097:blood*; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*
D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D019326:17-alpha-Hydroxyprogesterone