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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Systems Biology of Metabolic Regulation by Estrogen Receptor Signaling in Breast Cancer
10:36

Systems Biology of Metabolic Regulation by Estrogen Receptor Signaling in Breast Cancer

Published on: March 17, 2016

Status of antiestrogen breast cancer prevention trials

T J Powles1

  • 1Breast Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, London and Sutton, United Kingdom.

Oncology (Williston Park, N.Y.)
|April 29, 1998
PubMed

Insights

Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) is being studied in large trials for breast cancer prevention in healthy women. Researchers are assessing its effectiveness, especially in high-risk individuals, while monitoring side effects like bone and uterine changes.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Clinical Pharmacology

Background:

  • Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) is under investigation for breast cancer chemoprevention.
  • Large-scale clinical trials are crucial for evaluating preventive therapies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the preventive effect of tamoxifen in healthy women.
  • To evaluate tamoxifen's efficacy in specific risk subgroups, including BRCA1/BRCA2 carriers.

Main Methods:

  • Double-blind clinical trials involving over 24,000 healthy women.
  • Randomization of participants to assess tamoxifen's impact.

Main Results:

  • Potential to detect tamoxifen's preventive effect by the year 2000.
  • Identification of adverse effects: transient bone loss in premenopausal women and uterine issues (polyps, cysts, endometrial cancer) in postmenopausal women.

Conclusions:

  • Tamoxifen's potential benefits in breast cancer prevention may outweigh long-term risks.
  • Investigation into alternative drugs like raloxifene (Evista) and toremifene (Fareston) is ongoing.

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