title: Study of effectiveness of mifepristone for glioma cell line growth suppression.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Glioblastoma multiforme is a malignant primary brain tumour with very limited treatment options. Any addition to existing treatment options which can improve prognosis and life expectancy is useful. In our study, we look at the usefulness of anti-progestogen mifepristone in causing growth suppression of glioma cell lines in the laboratory.
  
  
  METHODS
  We cultured five cell lines in the lab and exposed them to mifepristone in different doses for a total of 96 h. Five different doses of mifepristone were used. Progesterone and dexamethasone were also used as growth stimulants. Immunostaining was used to identify progesterone receptors (PRs) in the cell lines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  U257/7 and IN1265 showed statistically significant growth suppression (36% and 11%, P = 0.001 and 0.03 respectively), maximal at 96 h. Growth suppression in U257/7 showed a dose response progression except with the lowest dose which was not explicable. The response of IN1265 was seen only with the highest dose of mifepristone. There was no significant growth stimulation with either dexamethasone or progesterone. None of the cell lines showed any significant positivity for PRs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We were able to produce enough growth suppression of glioma cell lines using mifepristone. This is in keeping with some of the published results in literature. This raises the possibility of using mifepristone in treating GBMs which have very limited treatment options. This, however, needs further work probably on primary glioma cultures first followed by in vivo studies before it can be used in patients.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Royal Preston Hospital, Preston, UK. ramaswamy_mr@yahoo.co.uk
authors: Raghu
authors: R
authors: Ramaswamy
authors: Katherine
authors: K
authors: Ashton
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Lea
authors: Philip
authors: P
authors: Roberts
authors: Charles H
authors: CH
authors: Davis
authors: Aprajay
authors: A
authors: Golash
authors: Timothy
authors: T
authors: Dawson
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015735:Mifepristone / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D015735:Mifepristone