Resistance to Aromatase Inhibitors in Breast Cancer

Abstract

For several decades, treatment of cancer consisted of chemotherapeutic drugs, radiation, and hormonal therapies. Those were not tumor specific and exhibited severe toxicities in many cases. But during the last several years, targeted cancer therapies have been developed. Targeted cancer therapies-sometimes called "molecularly targeted drugs-are drugs or other agents (e.g., anti-bodies) that block the growth and spread of cancer by interfering with specific gene products that regulate tumor cell growth and progression".We have witnessed in the last decade a significant explosion in the development of targeted cancer therapies developed against various specific cancers. These include drugs/antibodies that interfere with cell growth signaling or tumor blood vessel development, promote the cell death of cancer cells, stimulate the immune system to destroy specific cancer cells, and deliver toxic drugs to cancer cells. One of the major problems that arises following treatment with both conventional therapies and targeted cancer therapies is the development of resistance, preexisting in a subset of cancer cells or cancer stem cells and/or induced by the treatments. Tumor cell resistance to therapies remains a major problem and several strategies are being considered to reverse the resistance to various manipulations. Resistance to Targeted Anti-Cancer Therapeutics focuses on the basic and translational research behind the molecular mechanisms of resistance found in many kinds of anti-cancer therapeutics.More information about this series at