Endometrial cancer is the most prevalent gynecologic cancer in the United States, and its incidence and fatality rates have been increasing over the last decade. Patients suffering from advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer have few treatment options. Novel medicines, which are usually hazardous, are difficult to establish in this patient group, which is older and afflicted by comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension. Novel, non-toxic therapies are thus desperately needed. To improve the activity of megestrol acetate in endometrial cancer patients, researchers investigated the possibility of combining natural supplements with Megestrol acetate. In endometrial cancer patients, megestrol acetate is a commonly used drug. However, only 20–30% of those who respond to it do so. Combining megestrol acetate with the natural phenolic compound pterostilbene resulted in a synergistic suppression of cancer cell proliferation in vitro and an increased decrease of tumor development in a xenograft mice model.
Furthermore, dual therapy inhibited signaling pathways as well as cell cycle and survival pathways. The findings showed that combining megestrol acetate with pterostilbene improves its anti-tumor action, offering insight into the possible application of pterostilbene and megestrol acetate for the treatment of endometrial cancer.
Reference:www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12922-2
