Successful Targeted Therapies for Breast Cancer, The Worcester Foundation and Future Opportunities in Women's Health.

Successful Targeted Therapies for Breast Cancer, The Worcester Foundation and Future Opportunities in Women's Health. Endocrinology. 2018 Jun 19;: Authors: Abderrahman B, Jordan VC Abstract The signing of the National Cancer Act in 1971, was designed to take laboratory discoveries rapidly from the bench to the bedside. A "war on cancer" had been declared. Combination cytotoxic chemotherapy was predicted to cure all cancers based on the stunning success in treating childhood leukemia. Breast cancer treatments were primitive; radical mastectomy and radiation was standard of care for disease that had not spread. Ablative endocrine surgery (oophorectomy, hypophysectomy, and adrenalectomy) was a palliative last option for metastatic breast cancer. However, only 30% responded for a year or two: everybody died. The discovery of the estrogen receptor (ER), and translation to breast cancer treatment triggered a revolution in women's health. Two important, but interconnected events occurred at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology (WFEB), which would exploit the breast tumor ER as the first target to save lives and prevent breast cancer development. Two new groups of medicines: Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs) and aromatase inhibitors (AIs) would continue the momentum of research at the WFEB to improve women's health. Here we recount the important progress made in women's health based upon knowledge of the endocrinolo...
Source: Endocrinology - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Tags: Endocrinology Source Type: research