Radiosensitizing effect of medroxyprogesterone acetate on endometrial cancer cells in vitro

From clinical experience it is known that medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) can increase the radiosensitivity of adenocarcinomas of the corpus uteri. This study investigates this phenomenon in vitro. Primary explants of highly differentiated adenocarcinomas were irradiated with or without pretreatment with MPA and compared with an untreated control group and to a group treated with MPA only. Cell culture itself was performed on an agarose medium in order to prevent overgrowth by fibroblasts. Untreated samples formed 43 +/- 5 clones, explants treated with MPA only produced 39 +/- 5 clones, a difference which was not statistically different; samples irradiated without pretreatment produced 16 +/- 8 and samples after combined treatment 9 +/- 3 clones (all values means +/- SD). This numeric reduction of cell growth through preirradiation treatment with MPA was statistically significant. The effect of MPA as a radiosensitizer may be due to its potential to prolong the radiosensitive G2 phase of the cell cycle. This effect of MPA may be useful also in other hormone-dependent tumors.