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Article: Breast cancer and sex steroids: Critical review of epidemiological, experimental and clinical investigations on etiopathogenesis, chemoprevention and endocrine treatment of breast cancer
- Article from:
- Gynecological Endocrinology
- Article date:
- June 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright CRC Press Jun 2005. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Abstract
There is strong epidemiological, experimental and clinical evidence that the etiology of breast cancer is closely related to long-term exposure of breast epithelium to sex steroid hormones. Estrogens can enhance the development of breast cancer by stimulating cell proliferation ra
te and thereby increasing the number of errors occurring during DNA replication, as well as by causing DNAdamage via their genotoxic metabolites produced during oxidation reactions. Anti-estrogenic drugs, including tamoxifen, raloxifene and anastrozole, have been tested with promising results in the chemoprevention of breast cancer in high-risk women. As for the use of exogenous sex-steroids in the ...