Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 2, 2026

Mammary Epithelial Transplant Procedure
Published on: June 10, 2010
Androgens and mammary growth and neoplasia
Constantine Dimitrakakis1, Jian Zhou, Carolyn A Bondy
1Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Objective:
Evaluation of current clinical, experimental, genetic, and epidemiological data pertaining to the role of androgens in mammary growth and neoplasia.
Design:
Literature review.
Setting:
National Institutes of Health.
Subject(S):
Recent, basic, clinical, and epidemiological studies.
Intervention(S):
None.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Effects of androgens on mammary epithelial proliferation and/or breast cancer incidence.
Result(S):
Experimental data derived from rodents and cell lines provide conflicting results that appear be strain- and cell line-dependent. Epidemiologic studies have significant methodological limitations and provide inconclusive results. The study of molecular defects involving androgenic pathways in breast cancer is in its infancy. Clinical and nonhuman primate studies, however, suggest that androgens inhibit mammary epithelial proliferation and breast growth and that conventional estrogen treatment suppresses endogenous androgens.
Conclusion(S):
Abundant clinical evidence suggests that androgens normally inhibit mammary epithelial proliferation and breast growth. Suppression of androgens by conventional estrogen treatment may thus enhance estrogenic breast stimulation and possibly breast cancer risk. Clinical trials to evaluate the impact of combined estrogen and androgen hormone replacement regimens on mammary gland homeostasis are needed to address this issue.
Related Concept Videos
Mitogens and the Cell Cycle
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
The Mammary Glands
Each breast features a pigmented projection known as the nipple, through which milk emerges via closely spaced openings of ducts, referred to as lactiferous ducts. Surrounding the nipple is a circular pigmented area of skin named the areola, which appears rough due to...
Signs of Puberty
Cellular Adaptation III: Hyperplasia

