A REVIEW OF BREAST CANCER AND HORMONAL THERAPY

Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that develops from ductal and lobular cells of the breast. It is the most commonly occurring female cancer in the world. After cervical cancer, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in India. Several factors are known to affect the risk of breast cancer. There is mainly two types of breast cancer: ductal and lobular carcinoma. Estrogen, directly and indirectly, stimulates the growth of tumor cells. Several procedures can be used to diagnose breast cancer mainly radiological investigations, estrogen, and progesterone receptor test, and genomic assay. Breast cancer stages describe by the TNM staging system. Breast cancer treatment includes surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy. The estrogen receptor (ER) is an important target to develop drugs for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. The interaction of estrogen with the ER can result in increased proliferation of target cells, so the rationale for endocrine therapy is to block the interaction of estrogen with the ER. This goal can be accomplished by using SERMs or by using aromatase inhibitors.