Resistance to Endocrine Therapy in Breast Cancer

The foremost cause of female deaths is due to breast cancer. The most frequent type of breast cancer is hormone-dependent breast cancer, being either progesterone-or estrogen receptor-positive and in certain cases, both. Breast cancer treatments include radiation, surgery, endocrine therapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, or chemotherapy. A regular treatment for patients with estrogen receptor-positive tumors is endocrine treatment. Various compounds can directly target estrogen receptors or can suppress estrogen production. The introduction of gene therapy, targeted treatment, or biological drugs can reduce mortality rates and enhance the patients’ quality of life. Endocrine therapy resistance is on the rise leading to a major burden for treatment and poor survival for patients. Novel endocrine therapy and combinational therapy are solutions to overcome endocrine therapy resistance and to increase patient survival rates.