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Chemoprevention for Endometrial Cancers

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Preventive Oncology for the Gynecologist

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Abstract

In recent years, the development of new antineoplastic agents that can halt the process of carcinogenesis prior to development of disease and/or symptoms for various cancers with minimal systemic morbidity is an area of interest. Such agents have been proven to be useful for breast and ovarian cancers. An endometrial cancer (EC) is also a hormone-dependent cancer, like breast cancer, and has a well-proven risk factor profile to provide a defined population for identification. A variety of hormonal and non-hormonal agents have been studied for chemoprevention of endometrial cancers. Among hormonal agents, OCPs and depoMPA are most commonly used agents with equal efficacy; however, local route of hormonal administration (vaginal or endometrial) is preferred for minimal systemic effects. Among non-hormonal agents, metformin for obese women, COX-2 inhibitors, and statins are among certain drugs with different mechanisms, efficacy, and side effects. Recently, a new agent from peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-y) agonist group, rosiglitazone, has been found to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in both PTEN-wild and PTEN-null type endometrial cancer cell lines. However, most of the studies are observational studies with small sample size. Thus, these agents really need to be studied on a much larger population to establish their efficacy as chemopreventive drugs for endometrial cancers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgical Oncology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, New Delhi, India

    Monisha Gupta

  2. Department of Surgical Oncology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Pitampura, New Delhi, India

    Monisha Gupta

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  1. Monisha Gupta
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital, New Delhi, India

    Sumita Mehta

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, New Delhi, India

    Anshuja Singla

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Gupta, M. (2019). Chemoprevention for Endometrial Cancers. In: Mehta, S., Singla, A. (eds) Preventive Oncology for the Gynecologist. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3438-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3438-2_5

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