Hormonal agents and treatment of cancer

Hormonal control of tumor growth has shifted from what was basically an empirical discipline twenty-five years ago to what is now primarily a pharmacologic and biochemical science. Early on, medical management of malignancy relied heavily on the knowledge that deprivation of steroids produced by the sex glands could result in the regression of tumors in breast cancer and prostatic cancer. Today's approach to management is focused on the way in which different steroids feed the cancer cell itself. As a result, many new hormonal agents have been developed on the basis of the knowledge that it is possible to interfere with the process of cancer growth directly at the cellular level. The biochemical rationale for the development of many of these agents is discussed.