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Breast Cancer Research
Published in: Breast Cancer Research 5/2009

01-10-2009 | Review

Androgens and the breast

Authors: Constantine Dimitrakakis, Carolyn Bondy

Published in: Breast Cancer Research | Issue 5/2009

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Abstract

Androgens have important physiological effects in women while at the same time they may be implicated in breast cancer pathologies. However, data on the effects of androgens on mammary epithelial proliferation and/or breast cancer incidence are not in full agreement. We performed a literature review evaluating current clinical, genetic and epidemiological data regarding the role of androgens in mammary growth and neoplasia. Epidemiological studies appear to have significant methodological limitations and thus provide inconclusive results. The study of molecular defects involving androgenic pathways in breast cancer is still in its infancy. Clinical and nonhuman primate studies suggest that androgens inhibit mammary epithelial proliferation and breast growth while conventional estrogen treatment suppresses endogenous androgens. Abundant clinical evidence suggests that androgens normally inhibit mammary epithelial proliferation and breast growth. Suppression of androgens using conventional estrogen treatment may thus enhance estrogenic breast stimulation and possibly breast cancer risk. Addition of testosterone to the usual hormone therapy regimen may diminish the estrogen/progestin increase in breast cancer risk but the impact of this combined use on mammary gland homeostasis still needs evaluation.
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Metadata
Title
Androgens and the breast
Authors
Constantine Dimitrakakis
Carolyn Bondy
Publication date
01-10-2009
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Breast Cancer Research / Issue 5/2009
Electronic ISSN: 1465-542X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/bcr2413

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