title: Omics underpins novel clues on VDR chemoprevention target in breast cancer.
abstract: Breast cancer is the commonest form of female malignancy among women in Western countries. The advent of genomic technologies has enhanced the diagnosis and the biological classification of such pathology. It has been demonstrated that cancer takes many years to be fully established. This long dormancy could represent a potential window for intervening with chemoprevention studies. Cancer chemoprevention is by definition the use of natural, synthetic, or biological chemical agents to reverse, suppress, or delay the genetic or other alterations that culminate in the appearance of the tumor phenotype. An important step for the success of chemoprevention is the identification of molecularly targeted agents to prevent cancer development. Currently, only two chemoprevention agents, raloxifene and tamoxifen, are used in clinical practice to prevent breast cancer. In this review, we will mainly focus on: (1) the application of genomic technologies for the identification and validation of molecular targets for chemoprevention; (2) the role of vitamin D and its cognate receptor VDR (vitamin D receptor) as a model for the molecularly targeted chemoprevention of breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Direction, Regina Elena Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muti
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Benassi
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Falvo
authors.forename: Raffaela
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galanti
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Citro
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carrubba
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blandino
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Strano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol; D014807:Vitamin D