Abstract
Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for endocrine therapy of metastatic breast cancer. In this study, the serum MPA concentration was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and evaluated for its usefulness in predicting the response in 79 cases of advanced or recurrent breast cancers. Overall, 29 patients (37%) achieved an objective response. The response rate correlated significantly with the oestrogen receptor (ER) status (P = 0.03), proliferative activity determined by DNA polymerase alpha (P = 0.04), the disease-free interval (DFI) (P = 0.05) and the serum MPA concentration (P < 0.001). Patients with ER-positive tumours, lower proliferative activity, a longer (DFI) or a higher serum MPA concentration responded more frequently. The mean serum MPA concentration in the responders with ER-positive tumours (P = 0.01) or tumours with a lower proliferative activity (P = 0.008) were significantly lower than in cases with ER-negative tumours or tumours with a higher proliferative activity, respectively. Cases with soft tissue metastases showed responses at significantly lower MPA concentrations (P = 0.003) than those with bone or visceral metastases. Furthermore, there was a dramatic decrease in the MPA concentration when a responder with a high concentration became unresponsive to the therapy. Thus, the serum MPA concentration is a determining factor for the response to treatment.
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