Beyond contraception and hormone replacement therapy: Advancing Nestorone to a neuroprotective drug in the clinic.

Abstract

Neurological diseases such as ischemic stroke can be debilitating and have limited treatments available. The progestin Nestorone® (segesterone acetate) has been evaluated for use in birth control and hormone replacement therapy due to its potency and high affinity for the progesterone receptor. Interestingly, Nestorone also exerts neuroprotection in animals afflicted with various central nervous system diseases, including stroke, which implicates its potential for treating these maladies in clinical settings. In fact, a recent Brain Research paper by Tanaka and colleagues demonstrates Nestorone's ability to reduce infarct sizes and preclude functional impairments in rats subjected to ischemic stroke. This commentary highlights Nestorone's properties as a progestin, its neuroprotective capabilities in animal studies, and how the Tanaka team's findings and previous clinical trials contribute to Nestorone's translation into a therapeutic agent for stroke and other neurological diseases.

• Authors: Julian P Tuazon, Regine Sitruk-Ware, Cesario V Borlongan
• Journal: Brain research (Brain Res) Vol. 1704 Pg. 161-163 (02 01 2019) ISSN: 1872-6240 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 30321495 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Neuroprotective Agents
• Norprogesterones
• ST 1435

Topics

• Animals
• Humans
• Neuroprotective Agents (therapeutic use)
• Norprogesterones (therapeutic use)
• Stroke (drug therapy)