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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Biol Chem. Aug 26, 2015; 6(3): 231-239
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v6.i3.231
Current medical treatment of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer
Franco Lumachi, Davide A Santeufemia, Stefano MM Basso
Franco Lumachi, Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gasteroenterology, University of Padua, School of Medicine, 35128 Padova, Italy
Davide A Santeufemia, Medical Oncology, City Hospital, 07041 Alghero, Italy
Stefano MM Basso, Surgery 1, S. Maria degli Angeli Hospital, 33170 Pordenone, Italy
Author contributions: Lumachi F, Santeufemia DA and Basso SMM contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Franco Lumachi, MD, PsyD, Professor, Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gasteroenterology, University of Padua, School of Medicine, via Giustiniani 2, 35128 Padova, Italy. flumachi@unipd.it
Telephone: +39-049-8211812 Fax: +39-049-8214394
Received: April 27, 2015
Peer-review started: April 28, 2015
First decision: May 14, 2015
Revised: May 30, 2015
Accepted: July 21, 2015
Article in press: July 23, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Processing time: 121 Days and 11.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: In women with breast cancer (BC), the two major endocrine therapies (ET) available are directed at blocking estrogen receptors (ERs) on cancer cells (selective estrogen receptor modulators), or against the key enzyme in the biosynthesis of estrogens (aromatase inhibitors). The new knowledge about molecular mechanisms regulating tumor progression, suggested the existence of a strict relationship between ERs, intracellular signaling pathways, and other growth factors receptor, which justify the escape of a portion of patients from the inhibitory effects of ET. To restore endocrine sensitivity of BC cells, molecular-target therapies are giving encouraging results, but further studies are required to confirm their real usefulness.