title: Polyamines metabolism and breast cancer: state of the art and perspectives.
abstract: Breast cancer (BC) is a common disease that generally occurs in women over the age of 50, and the risk is especially high for women over 60 years of age. One of the major BC therapeutic problems is that tumors initially responsive to chemotherapeutic approaches can progress to more aggressive forms poorly responsive to therapies. Polyamines (PAs) are small polycationic alkylamines, naturally occurring and essential for normal cell growth and development in eukaryotes. The intracellular concentration of PA is maintained within strongly controlled contents, while a dysregulation occurs in BC cells. Polyamines facilitate the interactions of transcription factors, such as estrogen receptors with their specific response element, and are involved in the proliferation of ER-negative and highly invasive BC tumor cells. Since PA metabolism has a critical role in cell death and proliferation, it represents a potential target for intervention in BC. The goal of this study was to perform a literature search reviewing the association between PA metabolism and BC, and the current evidence supporting the BC treatment targeting PA metabolism. We here describe in vitro and in vivo models, as well as the clinical trials that have been utilized to unveil the relationship between PA metabolism and BC. Polyamine pathway is still an important target for the development of BC chemotherapy via enzyme inhibitors. Furthermore, a recent promising strategy in breast anticancer therapy is to exploit the self-regulatory nature of PA metabolism using PA analogs to affect PA homeostasis. Nowadays, antineoplastic compounds targeting the PA pathway with novel mechanisms are of great interest and high social impact for BC chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sciences, University "Roma Tre", Viale G. Marconi 446, 00146, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cervelli
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pietropaoli
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Signore
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amendola
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mariottini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015317:Biogenic Polyamines / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D015317:Biogenic Polyamines