Estrogens breast cancer

This summary table contains detailed information about research studies. Summary tables are a useful way to look at the science behind many breast cancer guidelines and recommendations. Learn how to read a research table. Introduction: Estrogens are natural hormones important for sexual development and other body functions. Before menopause, they are produced mainly in the ovaries. After menopause, they are produced mainly in fat tissue.

Some types of breast cancer are affected by hormones, like estrogen and progesterone. The breast cancer cells have receptors proteins that attach to estrogen and progesterone, which helps them grow. Treatments that stop these hormones from attaching to these receptors are called hormone or endocrine therapy. Hormone therapy can reach cancer cells almost anywhere in the body and not just in the breast. It's recommended for women with tumors that are hormone receptor-positive. It does not help women whose tumors don't have hormone receptors.

Estrogens are considered to play a major role in promoting the proliferation of both the normal and the neoplastic breast epithelium. Their role as breast carcinogens has long been suspected and recently confirmed by epidemiological studies. Three major mechanisms are postulated to be involved in their carcinogenic effects: stimulation of cellular proliferation through their receptor-mediated hormonal activity, direct genotoxic effects by increasing mutation rates through a cytochrome Pmediated metabolic activation, and induction of aneuploidy. Recently it has been fully demonstrated that estrogens are carcinogenic in the human breast by testing in an experimental system the natural estrogen 17beta-estradiol E 2 by itself or its metabolites 2-hydroxy, 4-hydroxy, and a-hydroxy-estradiol 2-OH-E 2 , 4-OH-E 2 , and alpha-OH E 2 , respectively, by inducing neoplastic transformation of human breast epithelial cells HBEC MCFF in vitro to a degree at least similar to that induced by the chemical carcinogen benz a pyrene BP.

Victorian government portal for older people, with information about government and community services and programs. Type a minimum of three characters then press UP or DOWN on the keyboard to navigate the autocompleted search results. There are several different types of hormone therapies. They may be used before or after breast surgery, after chemotherapy or radiotherapy, in place of surgery for example, in situations where surgery is not possible due to other health problems , or if breast cancer has spread or returned. Ovarian suppression can be an effective treatment for ER-positive breast tumours in women of child-bearing age.