Breast Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Breast Cancer, including details on symptoms, genetics, screening, treatment, information.

Pathways to tamoxifen resistance.

Riggins RB, Schrecengost RS, Guerrero MS, Bouton AH

Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA.

Therapies that target the synthesis of estrogen or the function of estrogen receptor(s) have been developed to treat breast cancer. While these approaches have proven to be beneficial to a large number of patients, both de novo and acquired resistance to these drugs is a significant problem. Recent advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that contribute to resistance have provided a means to begin to predict patient responses to these drugs and develop rational approaches for combining therapeutic agents to circumvent or desensitize the resistant phenotype. Here, we review common mechanisms of antiestrogen resistance and discuss the implications for prediction of response and design of effective combinatorial treatments.

Published 5 September 2007 in Cancer Lett, 256(1): 1-24.
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