A growth hormone receptor makes breast cancer more resistant to treatment with hormone therapy, Italian researchers say.
A team from Rome's Regina Elena Tumour Institute followed a small sample of patients whose breast cancer had been surgically removed as they were treated with the most common hormone drug, tamoxifene, over a five-year period.
They found a growth-hormone nerve receptor, Erb-B3, to be particular active in the patients whose cancer responded less well to tamoxifene therapy.
Erb-B3 releases an enzyme, PI3K, that is essential for cells to survive and proliferate.
The team led by Rita Falcione and Marcella Mottelese said the next step in their research would be to confirm their results with a wider sample.
The study has been published in the journal PloS One.
