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Cellular and Molecular Biology

Arming androgen receptors to oppose oncogenic estrogen receptor activity in breast cancer

British Journal of Cancer volume 125, pages 1599–1601 (2021)Cite this article

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Summary

Most breast cancers are driven by oncogenic activity of the estrogen receptor alpha (ER). Resistance to ER target therapies is the major cause of breast cancer death. Recently, there has been renewed interest in targeting the androgen receptor (AR) to treat ER-driven breast cancers. Herein, we discuss evidence for an AR agonist, not antagonist, treatment strategy.

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Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of AR-mediated inhibition of ER genomic signalling associated with anti-tumour activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Theresa E. Hickey, Amy R. Dwyer & Wayne D. Tilley

Authors
  1. Theresa E. Hickey
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  2. Amy R. Dwyer
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  3. Wayne D. Tilley
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Contributions

TEH wrote the manuscript with critical discussions and editing from ARD and WDT.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wayne D. Tilley.

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Funding

TEH is currently funded by a fellowship from the National Breast Cancer Foundation (IIRS-19-009). This work was supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (1130077; 1084416) and a joint Movember & National Breast Cancer Foundation Initiative Grant (MNBCF-17-012).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Hickey, T.E., Dwyer, A.R. & Tilley, W.D. Arming androgen receptors to oppose oncogenic estrogen receptor activity in breast cancer. Br J Cancer 125, 1599–1601 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-021-01478-8

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