Timothy Whitsett1, Mark Carpenter2, Coral A Lamartiniere3
1Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
2Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
3Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
DOI: 10.1186/1477-3163-5-15
ABSTRACT
Breast cancer remains a leading killer among cancers that affect women in the United States and around the world. It was estimated that in 2005, in the US alone, there were 211,240 new cases of female breast cancer and 40,410 deaths [1]. This remains a destructive disease despite the advent of new and aggressive therapeutics. It is widely accepted that environmental and dietary factors play a role in determining one’s risk of breast cancer. There is an extensive and growing amount of work devoted to the possible links between diet and a reduction in the risk of breast cancer. Our lab has studied the effects of dietary exposure to genistein, the primary isoflavone component of soybeans. We have shown that genistein administered in neonatal, prepubertal, and a combination of neonatal and prepubertal periods followed by adult exposures can suppress chemically-induced mammary cancer in Sprague-Dawley rats [2-4]. Other dietary compounds that have received much attention for their health benefits, including anti-carcinogenic properties, are the naturally occurring polyphenols resveratrol and EGCG. Read More…