Gastric
& Breast Cancer
DOI: 10.2122/gbc.2004.0031
PERSPECTIVE
Carcinogenesis of Breast Cancer:
Advances and Applications
Niki
J. Agnantis, MD, PhD, Michael Fatouros, MD, Ioannis Arampatzis,
MD, Evaggelos Briasoulis, Eleftheria V. Ignatiadou, MD, Evangelos
Paraskevaidis, MD, and Dimitrios Roukos, MD.
From
the Departments of Pathology (NJA) Surgery (MF, IA, HB, EVE,
DHR), Medical Oncology (EB), and Gynecology & Obstetrics
(EP) at the Ioannina University School of Medicine, GR -45110,
Ioannina, Greece.
Correspondence to: Dimitrios H. Roukos, MD, Ioannina University
School of Medicine, GR -45110, Ioannina, Greece, or email:
droukos@cc.uoi.gr
|
Breast
cancer is the most common malignancy among women
with an increasing incidence attributable to modern
lifestyle and hormone replacement therapy. Despite
rapid progress in understanding tumorigenesis,
limited is the translation of discovery-based
preventive research into clinical use.
Germ-line mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes,
identified a decade ago, account for 25% only
of familial risk and research has been focused
on searching the other high- and low-penetrance
genes responsible for the remaining 75%.
Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are subclass
of cell-surface growth-factor receptors. Deregulation
of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)
and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor
(VEGFR) signaling has a key role in tumorigenesis
and angiogenesis of human cancers including breast
cancer. The discovery of the HER2 gene revealed
that its amplification is involved in carcinogenesis,
led to the development of target-specific therapy
(monoclonal antibody trastuzumab) and opened the
door for the evaluation of other RTKs, which may
be proven potential targets for chemoprevention.
Breast carcinoma is biologically heterogeneous.
Genomics and proteomics approaches such as gene-array,
tissue-array, single-nucleotide-polymorphism analysis
and protein expression will improve the understanding
of molecular mechanisms, the classification of
individuals into low- and high-risk of cancer
and will facilitate the discovery-based research
for the development of novel targeted preventive
interventions.
Identifying genetic and environmental factors
involved in tumorigenesis and understanding signaling
pathways appears to be the most rational approach
for breast cancer prevention.
.
|
|
