Cytokinetic parameters of locally advanced human breast cancer treated with diethylstilbestrol and chemotherapy.

Thirty-six patients with locally advanced breast cancer received diethylstilbestrol (1 mg/die) for 3 days followed by FAC (5 Fu 600 mg/m2, adriamycin 50 mg/m2, cytoxan 600 mg/m2) on day 4, q. 21 days. After three cycles, responsive patients were submitted to surgery. Tumor kinetic parameters were evaluated by TLI and PDP-LI in 22 patients on serial tumor biopsies at diagnosis (TO), after DES (T1), 24 hrs after the first FAC (T2) and at the time of radical surgery (T3). An estrogenic recruitment was evident by TLI in 9/22 tumors and by PDP-LI in 16/22 patients. Our results demonstrate that diethylstilbestrol can induce a kinetic recruitment of breast cancer cells independently from their ER content and that chemotherapy is able to stop cell proliferation.