New Therapeutic Approaches and Prognostic Assays for Breast Cancer: Radiolabeled Ligands and Antibodies and Quantitative PCR

摘要

Breast cancer is a tumor of the mammary gland epithelium affecting about 176,000 women in the western hemisphere and killing about 50,000 people every year in the United States. A substantial body of epidemiological, experimental, and clinical evidence indicates that exposure to the natural hormones, estrogen, progesterone and prolactin, which are important for the normal development and function of the breast tissue, play a major role in the growth of breast cancer cells and may even contribute to the development of breast cancer.