Inhibitory action of androstenedione on the proliferation and cell cycle kinetics of aromatase-free MXT and MCF-7 mammary tumour cell lines

The effects of androstenedione (AD) on cell proliferation and kinetics have been measured in MXT mouse and MCF-7 human mammary cancer cell lines using SAMBA 200 cell image analysis of Feulgen-stained nuclei. At a concentration of 0.01 μM AD inhibited the proliferation of both cell lines whereas a higher dose (1 μM) was inhibitory on MCF-7 cell proliferation but stimulatory in MXT cells. It is unlikely that these effects are due to aromization of AD into oestrogen since (a) both cell lines were devoid of aromatase and (b) both cell lines were similarly affected by oestradiol (E 2), being stimulated at low concentrations and inhibited at high doses. Furthermore, inhibition by AD seems to occur, at least in part, by blockade of the cell cycle whereas that by E 2 appears to be cell cycle independent.