Product Description
Megestrol is a man-made version of the human hormone progesterone. It treats breast cancer and endometrial cancer by affecting female hormones involved in cancer growth. It increases weight gain by increasing appetite. Megestrol acetate (MA) is an appetite stimulant with efficacy in promoting weight gain in adults with cancer-associated anorexia-cachexia. The precise mechanism by which megestrol acetate produces effects in anorexia and cachexia is unknown at the present time, but its progestin antitumour activity may involve suppression of luteinizing hormone by inhibition of pituitary function. Studies also suggest that the megestrol’s weight gain effect is related to its appetite-stimulant or metabolic effects rather than its glucocorticoid-like effects or the production of edema. It has also been suggested that megestrol may alter metabolic pathways via interferences with the production or action of mediators such as cachectin, a hormone that inhibits adipocyte lipogenic enzymes.
