This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.The laboratory of Dr. Carlos Telleria is studying the anti-ovarian cancer properties of the synthetic steroid mifepristone, also known as RU-486. The anti-cancer activity is totally unrelated to the contraceptive properties (of mifepristone). These studies are pre-clinical studies of off-label uses for this drug. The utility of this drug for other medical illnesses has been underexplored and jeopardized by anti-abortion politics. The overall goal of the research in the laboratory is to study the feasibility of utilizing this synthetic steroid, originally designed for contraceptive purposes, for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Experiments from Dr. Telleria's laboratory, which have been supported through SD BRIN pilot grants, have recently been published in the June 1, 2007 issue of Clinical Cancer Research. They reveal that mifepristone is a potent inhibitor of the growth of ovarian cancer, demonstrated utilizing human ovarian cancer cells maintained in culture and mice carrying ovarian cancer disease. The growth inhibition effect of mifepristone for ovarian cancer is not related to the antiprogesterone activity that claims its contraceptive properties.
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