Megestrol Acetate is a synthetic progesteronal and potent anti-estrogen agent with multiple drug actions [1].
Megestrol Acetate has been reported to cause minor reduction of tumor size and prolonged survival time in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In addition, Megestrol Acetate has shown the dose-dependent inhibition on growth of the human liver tumor cells in the HepG2 cell lines with the IC50 value of 260μM in vitro. Furthermore, Megestrol Acetate has also shown a significant suppression of tumor growth. The tumor volumes of the addition of Megestrol Acetate group regressed to 59% of controls at 6th week. Apart from these, Megestrol Acetate has been revealed to increase the cell numbers of sub-G1 and inhibit the cell cycle progression in both dose- and time–dependent fashion. Besides, Megestrol Acetate has been demonstrated to induce apoptosis of HepG2 cells [1].
References:
[1] Zhang K1, Chow PK. The effect of megestrol acetate on growth of HepG2 cells in vitro and in vivo. Clin Cancer Res. 2004 Aug 1; 10(15):5226-32.