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Breast Cancer Research
Published in: Breast Cancer Research 1/1999

01-12-1999 | Commentary

Endogenous hormones and the aetiology of breast cancer

Authors: Timothy J Key, Pia K Verkasalo

Published in: Breast Cancer Research | Issue 1/1999

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Excerpt

After several decades of epidemiological and laboratory research, how well do we understand the role of endogenous hormones in the aetiology of breast cancer? Early studies showed that risk varies with several hormonal events: risk is increased by early menarche and late menopause, and decreased by giving birth at a young age and by high parity. The protective effect of pregnancy is probably due to hormonally induced differentiation of breast epithelial cells, causing a reduction in the number of susceptible cells. The effects of age at menarche and menopause indicate that the duration of exposure to cyclic ovarian function is an important determinant of breast cancer risk, but it has proved difficult to establish whether oestradiol and/or progesterone is responsible, or to show whether variations in hormone levels between women have any important effect on risk. …
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Metadata
Title
Endogenous hormones and the aetiology of breast cancer
Authors
Timothy J Key
Pia K Verkasalo
Publication date
01-12-1999
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Breast Cancer Research / Issue 1/1999
Electronic ISSN: 1465-542X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/bcr7

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