For the palliative treatment of patients with metastatic and/or progressive carcinoma of the prostate
Estramustine is a derivative of estradiol with a nitrogen mustard moiety. This gives it alkylating properties. In vivo, the nitrogen mustard component is active and can alklyate DNA and other cellular components (such as tubulin components) of rapidly dividing cells. This causes DNA strandbreaks or misscoding events. This leads to apoptosis and cell death. Also, due to the drugs estrogen component, it can bind more selectively to active estrogen receptors.
20 hours
The metabolic urinary patterns of the estradiol moiety of estramustine phosphate and estradiol itself are very similar, although the metabolites derived from estramustine phosphate are excreted at a slower rate.