[Antitumor activity of a new antiestrogenic drug, toremifene (NK622) against human breast cancer xenografts in nude mice].

NK622, a novel tamoxifen(TAM) analog with nonsteroidal structure is an antiestrogenic drug with less toxicity compared with that of TAM. We studied the in vivo antitumor activity against human breast cancer xenografts in nude mice. NK 622 significantly inhibited the growth of estrogen-dependent Br-10 breast cancer but not inhibited the growth of estrogen-independent MC-2-JCK and MC-5-JCK when orally administered once daily for 14 days at the maximum tolerated dose (200mg/kg/day). The dose of NK622 in animal studies was calculated by measuring plasma level in patients receiving 40 mg/body/day oral treatment and clinically equivalent dose (CED) was determined. At the calculated CED, NK622 significantly inhibited the growth of Br-10. These results indicate that NK622 is a promising drug comparable to TAM because of the growth inhibition of estrogen-dependent breast cancers.