The Roles of Tamoxifen and the Estrogen Receptor
This research into the role that the estrogen receptor plays in the development of breast cancer and the way tamoxifen makes use of the estrogen receptor to block the development of the cancer will elucidate the way chemotherapy agents can make use of the natural properties of cells and the physiology of the human body to defeat cancer. The results of this research will impact the understanding of how breast cancer is allowed to grow in the body, making it possible to ascertain how tamoxifen can be used as a preventive or treatment agent and how other similar agents might be developed that can effect a similar blocking of cancer cell growth.
The research will identify the specific action of the estrogen receptor in facilitating the growth of breast cancer, as well as the specific action of the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) tamoxifen in blocking the action of the estrogen receptor (Martino et al. 116). It will undertake a study the structure of the estrogen receptor at the molecular level to form a basis for understanding the dynamics of cancer cell growth and blocking.
Specifically, estrogen in the form of estradiol and its structure (shown at the top of the image below) will be compared with the structure of tamoxifen (shown at the bottom of the image below) (Goodsell 267). In many breast cancers, it is the estrogen that gives cancer cells ôpermissionö to grow (Goodsell 267). When a mutation occurs in one or more oncogenes, this causes the uncontrolled growth, and estrogen then promotes the growth of the cancer (Goodsell 267). Estrogen in the form of estradiol is ôa small carbon-rich steroid,ö and tamoxifen mimics its shape and chemical composition except for an extra chain attached in the middle that promotes its antagonistic action (Goodsell 267). This similarity in structure between estradiol and tamoxifen is the property that allows tamoxi
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