Osteoclast differentiation factor RANKL controls development of progestin-driven mammary cancer.

ABSTRACT: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in humans and will on average affect up to one in eight women in their lifetime in the United States and Europe. The Women's Health Initiative and the Million Women Study have shown that hormone replacement therapy is associated with an increased risk of incident and fatal breast cancer. In particular, synthetic progesterone derivatives (progestins) such as medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), used in millions of women for hormone replacement therapy and contraceptives, markedly increase the risk of developing breast cancer. Here we show that the in vivo administration of MPA triggers massive induction of the key osteoclast differentiation factor RANKL (receptor activator of NF-κB ligand) in mammary-gland epithelial cells. Genetic inactivation

SUBMITTER: Schramek D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3084017 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature