LetrozoleS1235

Letrozole potently inhibits aromatase derived from a variety of different sources including human placental microsomes, particulate fractions of human breast cancer, rat ovarian microsomes, MCF-7 cells transfected with aromatase (MCF-7Ca), JEG-3 human choriocarcinoma cells , CHO cells, hamster ovarian tissue, and particulate fractions of human breast cancer with IC50 of 11, 2, 7, 0.07, 0.07, 1.4, 20 and 0.8 nM. In the non-cellular systems, the IC50 of letrozole is calculated to be 1-13 nM. ^[1] Letrozole maximally inhibits estradiol production in vitro in LH-stimulated hamster ovarian tissue at 0.1 μM with an IC50 of 0.02 μM and does not significantly affect progesterone production up to 350 μM. In ACTH-stimulated rat adrenal tissue in vitro, aldosterone production is inhibited by with an IC50 of 210 μM. ^[2] Letrozole inhibits growth of the MCF-7 epithelial breast cancer cells in a dose-dependent way with IC50 of 1 nM. Inhibition can be observesed even at the very low concentrations tested (0.1 nM). Treatment of normal MCF-12A epithelial cells with letrozole did not affect their growth even when high letrozole concentrations (100 nM) or prolonged culture times. Letrozole (10 nM) significantly suppressed the stimulatory effects of 4-androstene-3,17-dione (100 nM) or testosterone (100 nM) on MCF-7 cell proliferation. Concurrent administration of 17-β-estradiol with letrozole (10 nM) decreased the stimulatory effect of the enzymatic activity of MMP-2 and - 9 released by estradiol. ^[3]