女性癌症死亡的主要原因是乳腺癌。最常见的乳腺癌类型是雌激素受体阳性乳腺癌。雌激素受体的发现为激素依赖性乳腺癌的治疗提供了非常有效的靶标。选择性雌激素受体抑制剂可用于阻止乳腺癌细胞的生长和诱导细胞凋亡。他莫昔芬,一种流行的选择性雌激素受体调节剂,可以治疗乳腺癌,但由于其在其他组织中的雌激素活性,也具有不利的副作用。许多草药和生物活性天然化合物,比如金雀异黄素,白藜芦醇,熊果酸,桦木酸,表没食子儿茶素-3-没食子酸酯,异戊二烯化异黄酮,玉米赤霉烯醇,coumestrol,pelargonidin,delphinidin,和BiochaninA,具有特异性调节雌激素受体α的能力。此外,其中一些化合物通过抑制雌激素受体基因表达加速细胞死亡。这为引入具有革命性治疗效果和几乎没有副作用的天然药物开辟了广阔的道路。
The main cause of cancer death among women is breast cancer. The most common type of breast cancer is the estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Discovery of estrogen receptor provided a highly effective target for treatment of hormone-dependent breast cancer. Selective estrogen receptor inhibitors are useful for halting the growth of breast cancer cells and inducing apoptosis. Tamoxifen, a popular selective estrogen receptor modulator, can treat breast cancer but also has unfavourable side effects due to its estrogenic activity in other tissues. Many herbal remedies and bioactive natural compounds, such as genistein, resveratrol, ursolic acid, betulinic acid, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, prenylated isoflavonoids, zearalenol, coumestrol, pelargonidin, delphinidin, and biochanin A, have the ability to specifically modulate the estrogen receptor alpha. Moreover, several of these compounds speed up cell death by supressing estrogen receptor gene expression. This opens wide avenue to introduce number of natural medicines with a revolutionary therapeutic impact and few side effects.