The effects of acute administration of cytotoxic anticancer agents on the capacity for subsequent hormonal responses in the mouse uterus

The mouse uterus has been used as a model system with which to examine the interaction of anticancer agents with steroid hormone receptors and to evaluate the effect of a single exposure to a cytotoxic anticancer agent on the subsequent elicitation of the uterotrophic response to estradiol. The uterotrophic response was interpreted in terms of the induction of progesterone receptors, uterine weight gain and increased uterine DNA content. Evaluation of 34 cytotoxic agents selected for this study provided little evidence to substantiate the interaction of these agents with estrogen or progesterone receptors. Although prior treatment with certain cytotoxic agents partially inhibited the subsequent responses to estradiol, some capacity to respond to estradiol was always retained. The majority of cytotoxic agents had little impact on the capacity to respond to estradiol. Thus, in these studies where high sublethal concentrations of cytotoxic agents were administered prior to estradiol, there was no indication that the mechanisms regulating subsequent hormonal responses were compromised.