Diane, if I remember right, you have been asking about tamoxifen for
your daughter, and wrote that you think she is leaning towards taking
it. However, today I came across several articles concerning
similarities between DES (which has caused cancer in up to 3 successive
generations) and tamoxifen. Below is an excerpt of one of them; the
whole article can be found at:
http://ipn.intelihealth.com/ipn/ihtIPN?c=200244
My concern is that this research suggests the possibility that tamoxifen
could also create changes in a childbearing woman's genes that could
pass on a predisposition to uterine cancer, much as DES has. Not to
cause alarm, but I thought it might be a significant risk to consider,
given your daughter's age. Love, Joicy
WESTPORT, Oct 27 (Reuters Health) - Diethylstilbestrol
(DES) causes
reproductive tract abnormalities in prenatally
exposed female
mice because it deregulates the Wnt7a gene
during the
postnatal period when uterine morphogenesis
occurs, a New
York research team reports.
According to the
researchers, the findings have implications
for the study of
tamoxifen and other DES-like drugs.
In previous
research, Dr. David A. Sassoon and a colleague,
of Mount Sinai
Medical Center in New York, found that
female mice
lacking Wnt7a have reproductive tract
malformations
similar to those observed in female mice
exposed to DES
prenatally. ......
........Dr. Sassoon's group concludes that "...DES exposure
results
in downregulation
of Wnt7a during a critical postnatal
period, thereby
interfering with proper uterine
morphogenesis."
Noting that
tamoxifen doubles the incidence of uterine
cancer, according
to one report, the authors add that
"[u]nderstanding
the molecular responses to breast and
uterine tissues
to steroidal pharmacological agents will be of
high importance
should their use increase."
"I don't want to
ring an alarm bell about tamoxifen per se,"
Dr. Sassoon told
Reuters Health. "It's just that there was
never an
explanation as to how DES actually created a
precancerous
condition. We thought by being able to
furnish an
explanation, any other estrogenic-like molecules
that are being
used could be looked at now with more
understanding as
to what is going on."
"I'm hoping this
will crack open the problem," Dr. Sassoon
added.
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