Breast cancer etiology

Progesterone may be linked to breast cancer etiology also, there is concern regarding the safety of progestational agents in women with preexisting breast cancer... 

D. J. Hunter and R. T. Relsey, Pesticide Residues and Breast Cancer The Harvest of a Silent Spring, J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 85 (1995) 598-99 R. El-Bayoumy, Environmental Carcinogens That May be Involved in Human Breast Cancer Etiology, Chem. Res. Toxicol. 5 (1995) 585-90 R. M. Sharpe and N. F. Skakkebaek, Are Oestrogens Involved in Falling Sperm Counts and Disorders of the Male Reproductive Tract Lancet541 (1995) 1592-95. 

Dietary Fat, Prolactin, and Breast Cancer. Prolactin may also interact with diet to influence breast cancer. Although the role of prolactin in human breast cancer etiology is relatively obscure, its role as a promotor in rodent mammary carcinogenesis has been well established (55,56). 

Intensive research efforts are ongoing in all aspects of breast cancer etiology, detection, prevention, and treatment. Thanks to the thousands of patients who volunteered for these clinical trials, a substantial reduction in mortality has been seen in selected patient subsets. It is hoped that the information obtained in the next decade will result in the knowledge required to significantly reduce mortality from breast cancer for all women. Only through these continued... 

The etiology of breast cancer is unknown, but a number of factors that increase a woman s chances of developing the disease have been identified. These risk factors, as well as information regarding the biology of the disease, suggest that a complex interplay between hormones, genetic factors, and environmental and lifestyle influences all contribute to the etiology of this disease. 

It should be emphasized that more than 60% of women with breast cancer have no identifiable major risk factor, indicating that the search for the etiology of this disease is largely incomplete. 

Brinton LA, Devesa SS (1996) Etiology and pathogenesis of breast cancer. Epidemiologic factors. Incidence, demographics and environmental factors. In Harris JR, Lippman ME, Morrow M, Heilman S (eds) Diseases of the breast Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia, pp 159-168... 

Safe SH, Zacharewski T. 1997. Organochlorinc exposure and risk for breast cancer. In Aldaz CM, Gould MN, Me Lachlan J, et al, eds. Etiology of breast and gynecological cancers. New York, NY Wiley-Liss Inc, 133-145. 

Wolff MS, Toniolo, PG. 1995. Environmental organochlorine exposure as a potential etiologic factor in breast cancer. Environ Health Perspec 103(7) 141-145. 

Breast cancer has a multifactorial etiology involving numerous genetic, metabolic, and cultural variables. Table I presents a summary of many epidemiological studies designed to identify risk factors for breast cancer (2-8). 

Remarkable progress has been made in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Despite this progress, cancer-related deaths worldwide continue to increase regularly and the increase is directly related to ever-increasing environmental contamination by toxic chemicals. An example of the ever-increasing prevalence of cancer is breast cancer, the most frequent cancer in women. Despite thousands of studies, the etiology of breast cancer remains poorly understood. 129 ... 

Purohit A, Newman SP, Reed MJ. The role of cytokines in regulating estrogen synthesis implications for the etiology of breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res 2002 4 65-9. 

A. Muti P. The role of endogenous hormones in the etiology and prevention of breast cancer The epidemiological evidence. Recent Results Cancer Res 2005 166 245-56. 

Although certain patterns of family history are associated with substantial elevations in the risk of breast cancer, these high-risk patterns occur infrequently in the general population (Table 125-2). The percentage of all breast cancers in the population that can be attributed to family history range between 6% and 12%. Thus it appears that genetically transmitted susceptibility contributes to their etiology of breast cancer in a sizable minority of patients. 

The observation that breast cancer incidence rates vary 10-fold between countries suggests that environmental factors play an important role in the etiology of breast cancer. Perhaps the most compelling evidence is derived from studies of Asian women who migrated from Japan to the San Francisco Bay area. Although the incidence of breast cancer in Asian women is quite low (about 97 cases per 100,000 women), the incidence of breast cancer in Asian women who were bom in the United States, or who migrated from Asia to the United States, gradually increases to equal that of the white population in the same area. 

Bradlow, H.L., R.J. Hershcopf, C.P. Martucci, and J. Fishman (1985). Estradiol 16a-hydroxylation in the mouse correlates with mammary tumor incidence and presence of murine mammary tumor virus A possible model for the hormonal etiology of breast cancer in humans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82, 6295-6299. 

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