Progesterone regulates the growth of tumors

• April 25, 2024

What is progesterone for? Progesterone regulates the growth of primary brain tumors, determined specialists from UNAM and other institutions. This sex hormone is also related to other types of cancer, such as breast and cervical cancer.

Astrocytomas are the most common, aggressive primary brain tumors and those that cause the greatest number of deaths worldwide, reported Ignacio Camacho Arroyo, researcher at the Faculty of Chemistry of the UNAM.

He explained that a, unlike other tumors that form in different organs and by metastasis reach the brain, the primary ones develop in the central nervous system.

The coordinator of this line of research commented that sex hormones are not only related to reproductive aspects, they are also associated with neuronal plasticity or mood.

"Progesterone can modify the activity of cells through different mechanisms, because it can alter the rate of expression of specific genes or produce changes in the behavior of cells," he explained.

Throughout 12 years of studies, scientists have found that progesterone increases the number of tumor cells and modifies their growth. In addition, it regulates the genes responsible for cell proliferation and metastasis, characteristics of cancer.

The primary tumors originate in the astrocytes, the most abundant cells of the brain, responsible for giving nutrients to the nervous tissue and, according to their histopathological characteristics, they are divided into four grades. The first tumor grade is treatable with surgery, while grades three and four are treated with chemo or radiotherapy.

The prognosis of the patient's life decreases in relation to the increase in the degree of tumor evolution, because while the life expectancy of a patient grade 1 is seven years, that of a patient grade 3 or 4 is from one year to three.

Camacho Arroyo explained that the presence of these tumors are often confused with headaches, dizziness and seizures; only until the patient detects recurrence of symptoms, seeks medical attention. "Usually, when a patient arrives at a neurological service, unfortunately he does it in states three or four, when the time he has left and the quality of life that he will have are very low."

The specialist in basic biomedical informed that currently, in addition to the radio and chemotherapy, there is no therapeutic alternative that can extend the life of the patient or improve their quality of life. This is how his interest arose to study this kind of suffering and, as a result, generate an anti-hormonal therapy in the future.

To conclude, Camacho Arroyo pointed out that tumors are more common in adults and more frequent in men. "No matter race, sex, age and social class, they are tumors that can end the life of anyone who suffers from this disease."

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