Potential use of analogs of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormones in the treatment of hormone-sensitive neoplasms.

New approaches to the therapy for some endocrine-dependent tumors with analogs of hypothalamic hormones are being developed on the basis of experimental studies in animal models. Analogs of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormones (LH-RH) may open new vistas for the treatment of some hormone-dependent carcinomas. It has been clearly demonstrated that both agonistic and antagonistic analogs of LH-RH can inhibit the growth of rat prostate tumors. A successful treatment of androgen-dependent prostate cancer with agonistic analogs of D-Trp6-LH-RH, D-Ser(But)6des-Gly-NH2(10)-LH-RH ethylamide, and D-Leu6-des-Gly-NH2(10)-LH-RH ethylamide has been documented in several hundred patients. The data accumulated so far from clinical trials suggest that LH-RH agonists can be used as an effective endocrine therapy for prostate carcinoma, therapy avoiding the side effects of estrogen and the psychologic impact of castration. Experimental animal studies and some clinical trials suggest that LH-RH agonists and/or antagonists might also be useful in the treatment of breast cancer. The results of experiments with various hypothalamic analogs in animal models of chondrosarcomas, osteosarcomas, and other tumors appear to be encouraging, but the potential clinical efficacy of LH-RH analogs in the treatment of human hormone-sensitive cancers other than breast and prostate remains to be investigated. The approach to treatment of hormone-dependent tumors based on analogs of hypothalamic hormones might become a useful addition to conventional methods for cancer therapy.