Prolactin and Breast Carcinoma

Abstract

ALTHOUGH hormone therapy for breast cancer has been in use for decades, there is much confusion about the reasons for its effectiveness (incomplete though it is). Patients respond in about equal numbers to oophorectomy, adrenalectomy, or hypophysectomy, a fact that complicates the puzzle.The development of radioimmunoassay for measuring blood and tissue levels of polypeptide hormones has led to new attempts to clarify the roles of individual hormones in the etiology and natural history of breast carcinoma. Prolactin, a peptide hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary, appears to be important for the development and growth of mammary tumors in mice . . .