Getting more anti-cancer medicine into the blood

Scientists are reporting successful application of the technology used in home devices to clean jewelry, dentures, and other items to make anticancer drugs like tamoxifen and paclitaxel dissolve more easily in body fluids, ...

Clue to unusual drug-resistant breast cancers found

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found how gene expression that may contribute to drug resistance is ramped up in unusual types of breast tumors. Their findings may offer new therapy ...

Tamoxifen

Tamoxifen is an antagonist of the estrogen receptor in breast tissue and is therefore used in the treatment of breast cancer. As of 2004, it was the world's largest selling drug for that purpose.

Some breast cancer cells require estrogen to grow. Estrogen binds to and activates the estrogen receptor in these cells. Tamoxifen is metabolized into compounds that also bind to the estrogen receptor but do not activate it. Furthermore tamoxifen prevents estrogen from binding to its receptor. Hence breast cancer cell growth is blocked.

Tamoxifen was discovered by ICI Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca) and is sold under the trade names Nolvadex, Istubal, and Valodex. However, the drug, even before its patent expiration, was and still is widely referred to by its generic name "tamoxifen."

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