153
Views
0
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Letter to the Editor

Progesterone and not estrogens or androgens causes breast cancer

ORCID Icon &
Pages 217-222 | Received 03 Nov 2023, Accepted 21 Nov 2023, Published online: 10 Jan 2024

References

  • Gompel A, Seifert-Klauss V, Simon JA, et al. Lack of evidence that progesterone in ovulatory cycles causes breast cancer. Climacteric. 2023;26(6):634–637. doi: 10.1080/13697137.2023.2249813.
  • Coelingh Bennink HJT, Schultz IJ, Schmidt M, et al. Progesterone from ovulatory menstrual cycles is an important cause of breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2023;25(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s13058-023-01661-0.
  • Tomasetti C, Li L, Vogelstein B. Stem cell divisions, somatic mutations, cancer etiology, and cancer prevention. Science. 2017;355(6331):1330–1334. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf9011.
  • Tokunaga M, Land CE, Aoki Y, et al. Proliferative and nonproliferative breast disease in atomic bomb survivors. Results of a histopathologic review of autopsy breast tissue. Cancer. 1993;72(5):1657–1665. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19930901)72:5<1657::AID-CNCR2820720527>3.0.CO;2-N.
  • Coelingh Bennink HJT, Egberts JFM, Mol JA, et al. Breast cancer and major deviations of genetic and gender-related structures and function. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020;105(9):e3065-74–e3074. Sep 1 doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgaa404.
  • Santen RJ, Yue W, Heitjan DF. Modeling of the growth kinetics of occult breast tumors: role in interpretation of studies of prevention and menopausal hormone therapy. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2012;21(7):1038–1048. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-12-0043.
  • Mørch LS, Skovlund CW, Hannaford PC, et al. Contemporary hormonal contraception and the risk of breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2017;377(23):2228–2239. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1700732.
  • Fournier A, Berrino F, Clavel-Chapelon F. Unequal risks for breast cancer associated with different hormone replacement therapies: results from the E3N cohort study. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2008;107(1):103–111. doi: 10.1007/s10549-007-9523-x.
  • Rosenberg LU, Granath F, Dickman PW, et al. Menopausal hormone therapy in relation to breast cancer characteristics and prognosis: a cohort study. Breast Cancer Res. 2008;10(5):R78. doi: 10.1186/bcr2145.
  • Manson JE, Aragaki AK, Rossouw JE, et al. Menopausal hormone therapy and long-term all-cause and cause-Specific mortality: the women’s health initiative randomized trials. JAMA. 2017;318(10):927–938. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.11217.
  • Coelingh Bennink HJT, Verhoeven C, Dutman AE, et al. The use of high-dose estrogens for the treatment of breast cancer. Maturitas. 2017;95:11–23. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2016.10.010.
  • Prior JC, Naess M, Langhammer A, et al. Ovulation prevalence in women with spontaneous normal-Length menstrual Cycles – a population-based cohort from HUNT3, Norway. PLoS One. 2015;10(8):e0134473. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134473.
  • Li D, Hitchcock CL, Barr SI, et al. Negative spinal bone mineral density changes and subclinical ovulatory disturbances–prospective data in healthy premenopausal women with regular menstrual cycles. Epidemiol Rev. 2014;36(1):137–147. doi: 10.1093/epirev/mxt012.
  • Lynch KE, Mumford SL, Schliep KC, et al. Assessment of anovulation in eumenorrheic women: comparison of ovulation detection algorithms. Fertil Steril. 2014;102(2):511–518 e2. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2014.04.035.
  • Rautalahti M, Albanes D, Virtamo J, et al. Lifetime menstrual activity–indicator of breast cancer risk. Eur J Epidemiol. 1993;9(1):17–25. doi: 10.1007/BF00463085.
  • Whelan EA, Sandler DP, Root JL, et al. Menstrual cycle patterns and risk of breast cancer. Am J Epidemiol. 1994;140(12):1081–1090. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a117208.
  • Clavel-Chapelon F. Cumulative number of menstrual cycles and breast cancer risk: results from the E3N cohort study of french women. Cancer Causes Control. 2002;13(9):831–838. doi: 10.1023/a:1020684821837.
  • Chavez-MacGregor M, Elias SG, Onland-Moret NC, et al. Postmenopausal breast cancer risk and cumulative number of menstrual cycles. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005;14(4):799–804. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-04-0465.
  • Collaborative group on hormonal factors in breast cancer. Menarche, menopause, and breast cancer risk: individual participant meta-analysis, including 118 964 women with breast cancer from 117 epidemiological studies. Lancet Oncol. 2012;13(11):1141–1151.
  • Polyak K, Kalluri R. The role of the microenvironment in mammary gland development and cancer. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2010;2(11):a003244–a003244. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a003244.
  • Söderqvist G, Isaksson E, von Schoultz B, et al. Proliferation of breast epithelial cells in healthy women during the menstrual cycle. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1997;176(1 Pt 1):123–128. Jan doi: 10.1016/s0002-9378(97)80024-5.
  • Subramani R, Lakshmanaswamy R. Pregnancy and breast cancer. Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2017;151:81–111. doi: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2017.07.006.
  • Mohammed H, Russell IA, Stark R, et al. Progesterone receptor modulates ERalpha action in breast cancer. Nature. 2015;523(7560):313–317. doi: 10.1038/nature14583.
  • Clarke CL, Sutherland RL. Progestin regulation of cellular proliferation. Endocr Rev. 1990;11(2):266–301. doi: 10.1210/edrv-11-2-266.
  • Foidart JM, Colin C, Denoo X, et al. Estradiol and progesterone regulate the proliferation of human breast epithelial cells. Fertil Steril. 1998;69(5):963–969. doi: 10.1016/s0015-0282(98)00042-9.
  • Brisken C, Scabia V. 90 years of progesterone: progesterone receptor signaling in the normal breast and its implications for cancer. J Mol Endocrinol. 2020;65(1):T81–T94. doi: 10.1530/JME-20-0091.
  • Wang S, Counterman LJ, Haslam SZ. Progesterone action in normal mouse mammary gland. Endocrinology. 1990;127(5):2183–2189. doi: 10.1210/endo-127-5-2183.
  • Beleut M, Rajaram RD, Caikovski M, et al. Two distinct mechanisms underlie progesterone-induced proliferation in the mammary gland. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2010;107(7):2989–2994. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0915148107.
  • An W, Lin H, Ma L, et al. Progesterone activates GPR126 to promote breast cancer development via the Gi pathway. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2022;119(15):e2117004119.
  • Walter KR, Goodman ML, Singhal H, et al. Interferon-Stimulated genes are transcriptionally repressed by PR in breast cancer. Mol Cancer Res. 2017;15(10):1331–1340. Oct doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-17-0180.
  • Werner LR, Gibson KA, Goodman ML, et al. Progesterone promotes immunomodulation and tumor development in the murine mammary gland. J Immunother Cancer. 2021;9(5):e001710. May doi: 10.1136/jitc-2020-001710.
  • Fata JE, Kong YY, Li J, et al. The osteoclast differentiation factor osteoprotegerin-ligand is essential for mammary gland development. Cell. 2000;103(1):41–50. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)00103-3.
  • Dougall WC. Molecular pathways: osteoclast-dependent and osteoclast-independent roles of the RANKL/RANK/OPG pathway in tumorigenesis and metastasis. Clin Cancer Res. 2012;18(2):326–335. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-2507.
  • Mulac-Jericevic B, Lydon JP, DeMayo FJ, et al. Defective mammary gland morphogenesis in mice lacking the progesterone receptor B isoform. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2003;100(17):9744–9749. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1732707100.
  • Mukherjee A, Soyal SM, Li J, et al. Targeting RANKL to a specific subset of murine mammary epithelial cells induces ordered branching morphogenesis and alveologenesis in the absence of progesterone receptor expression. Faseb J. 2010;24(11):4408–4419. doi: 10.1096/fj.10-157982.
  • Tanos T, Sflomos G, Echeverria PC, et al. Progesterone/RANKL is a major regulatory axis in the human breast. Sci Transl Med. 2013;5(182):182ra55. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3005654.
  • Haslam SZ, Drolet A, Smith K, et al. Progestin-regulated luminal cell and myoepithelial cell-specific responses in mammary organoid culture. Endocrinology. 2008;149(5):2098–2107. doi: 10.1210/en.2007-1398.
  • Brisken C, Heineman A, Chavarria T, et al. Essential function of wnt-4 in mammary gland development downstream of progesterone signaling. Genes Dev. 2000;14(6):650–654. doi: 10.1101/gad.14.6.650.
  • Infante M, Fabi A, Cognetti F, et al. RANKL/RANK/OPG system beyond bone remodeling: involvement in breast cancer and clinical perspectives. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2019;38(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s13046-018-1001-2.
  • Gonzalez-Suarez E, Jacob AP, Jones J, et al. RANK ligand mediates progestin-induced mammary epithelial proliferation and carcinogenesis. Nature. 2010;468(7320):103–107. doi: 10.1038/nature09495.
  • Jones DH, Nakashima T, Sanchez OH, et al. Regulation of cancer cell migration and bone metastasis by RANKL. Nature. 2006;440(7084):692–696. doi: 10.1038/nature04524.
  • Tsubaki M, Komai M, Fujimoto S, et al. Activation of NF-kappaB by the RANKL/RANK system up-regulates snail and twist expressions and induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in mammary tumor cell lines. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2013;32(1):62. doi: 10.1186/1756-9966-32-62.
  • Tan W, Zhang W, Strasner A, et al. Tumour-infiltrating regulatory T cells stimulate mammary cancer metastasis through RANKL-RANK signalling. Nature. 2011;470(7335):548–553. doi: 10.1038/nature09707.
  • Coleman R, Finkelstein DM, Barrios C, et al. Adjuvant denosumab in early breast cancer (D-CARE): an international, multicentre, randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2020;21(1):60–72. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30687-4.
  • Gnant M, for the Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group, et al. Long-term outcomes of adjuvant denosumab in breast cancer. NEJM Evid. 2022;1(12):162. doi: 10.1056/EVIDoa2200162.
  • Udquim KI, Zettelmeyer C, Banday AR, et al. APOBEC3B expression in breast cancer cell lines and tumors depends on the estrogen receptor status. Carcinogenesis. 2020;41(8):1030–1037. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgaa002.
  • Triantafyllidi VE, Mavrogianni D, Kalampalikis A, et al. Identification of genetic causes in Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome: a systematic review of the literature. Children. 2022;9(7):961. doi: 10.3390/children9070961.
  • Venkata VD, Jamaluddin MFB, Goad J, et al. Development and characterization of human fetal female reproductive tract organoids to understand mullerian duct anomalies. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2022;119(30):e2118054119. Jul 26

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.