Inhibition of estrogen signalling by androgen receptors: a potential mechanism for suppression of breast cancer growth.

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/250373

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Breast cancer is a major health problem in Western countries including Australia, where it is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Breast cells require female sex hormones, called estrogens, for their growth and survival and consequently most current treatments for breast cancer aim to block the actions of these hormones in breast cancer cells. However there is still a large proportion of women who do not respond to these therapies or have an initial response but subsequently develop resistance. Evidence from our laboratory and others indicates that the male sex hormones, androgens, also play an important role in breast cancer. Androgens oppose the effects of estrogens in breast cancer cells, and inhibit their growth. Historically androgens were used to treat patients with advanced breast cancer, with good results, but the masculinising side effects (eg excess hair growth and acne) of these hormones led to a discontinuation of their use since the 1960s. The major objective of our current studies is to determine how androgens can stop breast cancer cells from growing by investigating the effects of the androgen receptor, which mediates the growth regulatory effects of androgens, in breast cancer cells. We believe that a better understanding of this signalling pathway could potentially lead to new treatments for breast cancer that act more specifically to inhibit cancer growth without the unpleasant side effects of androgenic drugs.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2003

End Date: 01-01-2005

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $525,000.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Oncology And Carcinogenesis

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Advanced breast cancer | Androgen receptor | Androgen therapy of breast cancer | Breast cancer | Estrogen receptor | HER2/neu | Inhibition of estrogen signalling | Ligand-independent activation

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