Hormones as a double-edged sword: the role of hormones in cancer progression and the potential of targeted hormone therapies

Med Oncol. 2024 Oct 14;41(11):283. doi: 10.1007/s12032-024-02517-z.

Abstract

Cancer remains a significant cause of mortality in the world, with increasing prevalence worldwide. There are numerous treatments ranging from surgery to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but since cancer is a heterogeneous disease, only few patients possibly respond to treatments. However, it opens a huge space for the advent of targeted therapies such as hormone therapy, immunotherapy, and target-specific drugs. Hormonal therapy using hormone agonists/antagonists or hormone receptor inhibitors-called the next-generation hormonal agents-hits distinct hormonal pathways that are involved in breast, prostate and ovarian cancer. Preliminary results show that through combination of drugs, it is possible that the synergistic effects may actually lead to better survival than with the use of single drugs. With manageable adverse effects, hormonal therapy offers much hope for treatment of this rather challenging malignancy of the hormone-sensitive cancers, especially in combination with other treatments.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Estrogen; Hormonal therapy; Progesterone; Prostate cancer; Synergistic effect.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal* / therapeutic use
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Disease Progression
  • Female
  • Hormones / therapeutic use
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Molecular Targeted Therapy / methods
  • Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal
  • Hormones