Faculty Publications

Russo IH, Russo J

Use of human chorionic gonadotropin in the prevention of breast cancer

Women's Health. 2008;4(1):1-5.

Abstract A review. Exptl. studies have confirmed that full-term pregnancy prevents the initiation of chem. induced cancer, a phenomenon mediated by the induction of differentiation of the mammary gland. These observations led to suggestion that activation of this mechanism was the most physiol. approach for breast cancer prevention. A new approach for breast cancer prevention has to be developed capitalizing on the preventive effect of the hormones of pregnancy, which, by inducing differentiation of the breast, imprint a permanent genomic signature that is assocd. with reduced breast cancer risk. The exptl. demonstration that human chorionic gonadotropin, the hormone synthesized by the embryo and the placenta, is the one mediating the preventive effect of pregnancy, made it natural to select this specific hormone for the prevention of breast cancer. [on SciFinder (R)]