In vivo inhibition of tumour growth by dexamethasone in murine osteosarcomas

This study was performed to determine whether glucocorticoid (GC) is an effective inhibitor of tumour growth in murine osteosarcoma (OS) in vivo. The effects of dexamethasone (DEX) on the growth of this tumour were studied in male C3H/He mice. The animals received a dose of 1.25 or 5 microg/g of DEX in 0.1 ml of steroid solution daily intraperitoneally (i.p.) for 14 days. In each DEX-treated group, significant inhibition of the tumour growth curve was seen in a dose- dependent manner compared with the control group (P<0.0001). The percentage of proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-positive cells was 22.7% in the 5 microg/g DEX treatment group compared with 67.6% in the control group (P=0.009). Furthermore, mifepristone, a GC receptor antagonist, blocked the inhibition of tumour growth induced by DEX. In the control group, tumour cells showed positive reactivity for nuclear glucocorticoid receptors (GR) by immunohistochemistry. The results of this study indicate that tumour growth inhibition by DEX in murine osteosarcoma may be via GR.