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Rebecca Voelker

JAMA. 1999;282:723.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

For years, clinicians have known that the breast cancer drug tamoxifen works by blocking the effects of estrogen in breast tissue. But they could only guess why the drug was effective for just about 5 years.

In the July 30 issue of Science, researchers from Duke University Medical Center and Novalon Pharmaceutical Corp offer an explanation. In laboratory studies, they found that tamoxifen causes estrogen receptors in the breast to change shape. The receptors form a unique pocket shape where proteins inside the cell begin to bind to the receptor. The binding action causes the cells to respond differently to tamoxifen, viewing the drug as if it were an estrogen rather than an antiestrogen, and cancer growth recurs.

The study's author said the finding opens new avenues for drug development. "We can develop drugs that target the estrogen receptor, but don't form this new pocket when they . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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