RU486 is a potent inhibitor of aromatase induction in human breast adipose tissue stromal cells.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Aromatization of circulating androgens in adipose tissue is a major source of estrogens in postmenopausal women. As part of our efforts to elucidate the mechanism of aromatase induction in human breast adipose tissue, we tested the effects of the antiglucocorticoid and antiprogestin, RU486, on aromatase induction in primary cultures of adipose tissue stromal cells in a serum-free system devoid of phenol-red. Under these conditions 1 microM cortisol alone induces low levels of aromatase activity within one day, whereas platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF) potentiates this effect two- to three-fold. The well-known strong inductive effect of dibutyryl-cAMP (db-cAMP) is also augmented by cortisol, but is inhibited by PDGF in the absence of cortisol. RU486 completely prevented aromatase induction by cortisol and PDGF. Induction by db-cAMP in the presence and absence of cortisol was significantly inhibited by RU486. Even lower activities were measured when RU486 was added to cells stimulated with PDGF and db-cAMP in the absence or presence of cortisol. Similar results were obtained after prolonged incubation. The inhibitory effects of RU486 are dose dependent, less than 1 microM completely blocking the effects of cortisol, whereas 10 microM are needed to block db-cAMP induction. RU486 does not affect cell number, cellular protein, viability or house-keeping enzymes such as lactat

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.