Molecular and endocrine biomarkers in non-involved breast: relevance to cancer chemoprevention.

The animal models for chemoprevention of breast cancer have provided important experimental systems to evaluate the efficacy of tumor suppression by dietary macro- and micronutrients. In the initiation/promotion cascade, early occurring premalignant changes constitute less extensively examined aspects of disease progression. Molecular, endocrine and cellular biomarkers may provide clinically relevant endpoints for prevention of breast cancer that focus on downregulation of preneoplastic transformation. In vitro models derived from non-involved murine and human mammary tissues are utilized to identify molecular, endocrine and cellular markers that are perturbed in response to such diverse initiators as viruses and chemical carcinogens. This upregulation was manifested as persistent Ras p21-GTP binding, altered C16 alpha/C2 hydroxylation of estradiol, and hyperplasia preceding tumorigenesis. Prototypic chemopreventive agents such as n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, retinoids, and indole-3-carbinol were capable of downregulating all of the preneoplastic markers perturbed by initiators. Experimental modulation of these biomarkers in murine and human mammary tissue prior to the expression of a fully transformed tumorigenic phenotype is suggestive of their potential clinical application in chemopreventive intervention for breast cancer.