Hormones and Breast Cancer: Cause, Prevention, Therapy

The Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus will hold a briefing on Hormones and Breast Cancer: Cause, Prevention, Therapy on Wednesday, April 25, at the Capitol Hill Club, 300 First Street, SE, Washington, DC. Lunch will be served starting promptly at 12:00 noon for those registered to attend the briefing. Our distinguished speaker will be Dr. V. Craig Jordan of the Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Dr. Jordan is a leader in studying the effects of estrogen-blocking drugs on breast cancer. While trying to understand why some patients' breast cancer resisted tamoxifen treatment, Dr. Jordan and his team uncovered information that led to the use of tamoxifen as a chemopreventive – a momentous advance in prevention science. Tamoxifen is currently our only weapon to reduce breast cancer in premenopausal women. Fortunately, it does not cause an increase in either endometrial cancer or blood clots, which are major concerns for postmenopausal women.

Dr. Jordan continues to study the genre of drugs called SERMS (selective estrogen receptor modulators) to further understand how they work and what effect they have on breast cancer development. Along with tamoxifen, Dr. Jordan studies raloxifene, a new medicine now shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenapausal women. Both tamoxifen and raloxifene act by occupying estrogen receptors in breast and other tissue, and therefore block estrogen's message to the cell to divide and spread. Nevertheless, further investment and research will allow us to continue to expand our menu of medicines and drug development in the future.

The Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus provides a forum where Members and congressional staff can interact directly with the researchers responsible for critical, often world-changing scientific discoveries. Since the initiation of the Caucus in 1990, the JSC has proudly sponsored presentations by prominent scientists on such topical issues as avian flu, women's health, cystic fibrosis, heart disease, gene therapy, and effective drug design. Many of the stunning advances highlighted in these presentations, made possible by NIH funding, have led to improved understanding of the cause of, and treatment or prevention for, human disease.

We hope you will be able to attend this important briefing. Please RSVP to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at the JSC at (301) 347-9309.