Contribution of ER and NF-κB to endocrine resistance in inflammatory breast cancer. (January 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sas, Leen; Vermeulen, Peter B; van Dam, Peter; Dirix, Luc Y; Lardon, Filip; Van Laere, Steven J
• Is Part Of: Breast cancer management. Volume 3:Number 1(2014)
• Page Start: 53
• Page End: 61
• Publication Date: 2014-01
• Subjects: Breast -- Cancer -- Periodicals; Breast -- Cancer -- Treatment -- Periodicals; 616.9944905
• DOI: 10.2217/bmt.13.72
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1758-1923

Abstract

SUMMARY Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a very aggressive form of breast cancer with a high mortality rate. Most patients have lymph node metastasis at the time of diagnosis and 30% of patients already have metastases in distant organs. IBC is normally treated with multimodality therapy. Endocrine therapy is administered in cases of ER-positive tumors. Nevertheless, IBC has a high HOXB13:Il17RB ratio, predicting a poor response to tamoxifen treatment. These data suggest a possible role for IBC as a model for endocrine resistance. Previous studies have shown that NF-κB, a transcription factor regulating different cellular processes, is more highly activated in IBC than in non-IBC, while ER is often downregulated in this tumor type. This article summarizes the activity of ER and NF-κB in IBC and their possible contribution to endocrine resistance in this breast cancer subtype.