Hormones can cause breast cancer

New advice on preventing breast cancer: Prescribed hormones in the form of contraceptives may increase the risk of breast cancer.

Certain hormones increase the risk of breast cancer. An international team of researchers, with the participation of the University Hospital Erlangen, has now for the first time scientifically explained the mechanism behind it and the results in the journal „Nature“ released. From the findings, new treatment approaches and therapies for breast cancer can be derived, as well as the hope of Prof. Dr. med. Georg Schett, Director of the Medical Clinic 3 of the University Hospital Erlangen

Hormones increase the risk of breast cancer
The fact that the administration of certain hormone preparations is associated with breast cancer has long been known among professionals. However, the exact procedure that leads to the increased risk of breast cancer has not yet been scientifically discussed, the researchers said in the context of the publications now presented. It was only clear that the cells of the mammary gland have receptor molecules (receptors) for estrogens and progesterone and that, for example, they are particularly sensitive to medroxy progesterone, which is used in the three-month syringe for contraception. In other synthetic progesterone showed a similar reaction, which increases the overall risk of breast cancer when using such drugs significantly, the statement of the scientists to the current state of research. As references, they referred primarily to large US studies such as the „Women's Health Initiative“ or the „Million Women Study“.

Protein molecule as a cause of uncontrolled cell growth
The international consortium of basic scientists and clinical scientists from Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and the USA has now been able to prove that progesterone stimulates the signaling protein RANKL (Receptor Activator for Nuclear Factor k B ligand). The protein molecule is actually responsible for bone metabolism and bone growth, but is also formed by the influence of progesterone in the female breast, said the research team led by study leader Prof. Dr. med. Josef Penninger from Vienna. Here, RANKL promotes breast cell growth and contributes to the growth of stem cells, which are responsible for the development of breast cancer (breast cancer), the researchers said. In their view, the risk of malignant tumors increases considerably through the use of hormone preparations.

New treatment approaches against breast cancer possible
Since drugs are already being researched that can inhibit the protein RANKL therapeutically, the physicians see their findings as a good basis for the development of new preventive and treatment methods for breast cancer. „The findings of the relationships between progesterone and RANKL will in future provide better options for the treatment of breast cancer patients, but also for the prevention of tumor development, as changes in RANKL precede the clinical manifestation of the disease“ so the comment of the scientists in the trade magazine „Nature“. So far, the therapeutic inhibition of RANKL, predominantly used in osteoporosis, a disease of which also predominantly women are affected.

One in ten suffers from breast cancer, 30 percent die
Around one in ten women suffers from breast cancer during their lifetime, with breast cancer accounting for 28% of all new cancer cases, the most common cancer in women. Around 57,000 people fall ill in Germany every year with breast cancer and then have to undergo surgery, cytostatics, hormone and / or radiation therapy. The likelihood that a disease will be fatal (lethality) is approximately 30%, making breast cancer the most common cause of death in women between the ages of 30 and 60 in developed countries. (fp, 04.10.2010)

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