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Control of Estrogen Biosynthesis in Breast Cancer

  • Conference paper
Hormonal Carcinogenesis III

  • 91 Accesses

Abstract

Estrogens (Es) play a crucial role in breast cancer (BC) development. Aromatase (CYP19), a cytochrome P450, is the enzyme that synthesizes Es. Using enzyme activity measurements (1–3), immunocytochemistry (4–7), and RT-PCR analysis (8, 9), aromatase is expressed at a higher level in human BC tissue than in normal breast tissue. Cell culture (10,11), animal experiments using aromatase-transfected BC cells (12, 13), and transgenic mouse studies (14) have demonstrated that in-situ produced E plays a more important role than circulating Es in breast tumor promotion. In addition, tumor aromatase has been shown to stimulate BC growth in both an autocrine and aparacrine manner (15). RT-PCR and gene transcriptional studies have revealed that in normal tissue, the aromatase promoter switches from a glucocorticoid-stimulated promoter, 1.4, to the cAMP-stimulated promoters, 1.3 and II, in cancerous tissue (9, 16, 17). Suppression of in-situ E biosynthesis can be achieved by the prevention of aromatase expression, or by the inhibition of aromatase activity in breast tumors. Our laboratory has devoted significant effort to understand the regulatory mechanism of aromatase expression in BC tissue and to determine the structure- function relationship of aromatase. The information obtained from our studies will help in developing approaches to repress aromatase/E biosynthesis in BC tissue.

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Authors
  1. Shiuan Chen
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  2. Dujin Zhou
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  3. Yeh-Chih Kao
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  4. Chun Yang
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  5. Baiba Grube
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Etiology & Prevention of Hormonal Cancers Kansas Cancer Intitute, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, 66160, USA

    Jonathan J. Li Ph.D. (Professor of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics Director) & Sara Antonia Li Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics) (Professor of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics Director) &  (Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics)

  2. Division of Public Health Sciences Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98101, USA

    Janet R. Daling Ph.D.

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

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Chen, S., Zhou, D., Kao, YC., Yang, C., Grube, B. (2001). Control of Estrogen Biosynthesis in Breast Cancer. In: Li, J.J., Li, S.A., Daling, J.R. (eds) Hormonal Carcinogenesis III. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2092-3_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2092-3_26

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7411-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2092-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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