Complications of cancer chemotherapy. The special case of hormones

Side effects of hormones given for the treatment of neoplastic diseases, such as for example breast cancer, depend upon mechanisms quite different from those operating with other chemotherapeutic agents. This is precisely because hormones are usually not cytotoxic and that their antitumor efficacy appears to be based more on regulatory mechanisms than on cytotoxicity. Side effects of hormones belong to three main categories. Firstly they may result from the use of hormones at supraphysiologic doses or of hormones of the opposite sex. Secondly, side effects may occasionally be due to non hormonal toxicity of synthetic compounds. Thirdly, complications may sometimes result from stimulation of tumor growth and exacerbation of the disease by hormones which usually achieve the opposite, namely beneficial effect.SCOPUS: ar.j