Eleven of twelve human breast cancers contained a lipid which increased urinary (45)Ca and (40)Ca excretion of (45)Ca-labeled, parathyroidectomized rats receiving a low Ca diet. The lipid has mobility on thin-layer chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography close to, but not identical with, that of 7-dehydrocholesterol. Authentic 7-dehydrocholesterol has osteolytic activity similar to that of the extracted sterol. Fluorescence and Lieberman-Burchard reactions of the extracted sterol are similar to those of 7-dehydrocholesterol. The lipid was found by thin-layer chromatography in the extracts which had osteolytic activity. Neither the lipid nor osteolytic activity was found in extracts of tissue from two normal human breasts.

Δ1‐Testololactone, a nonvirilizing testosterone derivative, effective in the treatment of disseminated mammary carcinoma, was administered in a dosage larger than previously reported, in an attempt to obtain better control of the disease. Increasing the dose caused no improvement in the objective regression rate. Prolonged objective regressions were achieved in 4 of 32 women (12.5%) who previously had received one or more courses of hormone therapy. The drug did not cause virilization or other undesirable effects. During therapy there was a fall in urine calcium, calculated to result from an increase in tubular reabsorption. There was no hepatic, renal or other toxicity, no change in serum high‐density lipoprotein lipids and no hypercalcemia caused by therapy.

In a study of the antitumor efficacy of androgen derivatives in the treatment of advanced carcinoma of the female breast, a highly potent anabolic and androgenic steroid, 7α, 17α‐dimethyltestosterone, was compared by the double‐blind technique with 2α‐methyldihydrotestosterone. The latter is a weak androgen with antitumor efficacy similar to that of testosterone propionate. Both were administered orally, the dimethyllated steroid in a dose of 10 mg daily, the 2α‐methyldihydrotestosterone in a dose of 150 mg daily. Five of 25 women treated with 7α, 17α‐dimethyltestosterone (20%) had objective regressions compared with 2 of 25 women receiving 2α‐methyldihydrotestosterone (8%). There was a higher incidence of virilization and BSP retention with 7α, 17α‐dimethyltestosterone but no jaundice or other evidence of hepatocellular damage.