Simak Ali

Biography

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women, making up 23% of all cancers in women, with 1.38 million new cases worldwide annually, making up 10.9% of all cancer (men and women), ranking it second only to lung cancer. Breast Cancer is the most frequent cause of cancer death in women worldwide, with 460K deaths per annum. In developed regions, breast cancer mortality ranks it equal first with lung cancer deaths in women (http://globocan.iarc.fr). Furthermore, breast cancer incidence in the West has risen over the last century and continues to rise. In Europe, breast cancer incidence has risen 72% between 1975-1977 and 2008-2010 (http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/types/breast/incidence/). Breast cancer incidence is also rising rapidly in many other parts of the world. For example, in 2008 170K new cases were diagnosed in China, but some studies estimate that this number may reach 2.5M cases per annum by 2021 (Linos et al 2008 JNCI 100: 1352-1360), a 15-fold increase in little over a decade. These enormous increases in breast cancer incidence world-wide, often accompanied by lifestyle changes known to influence breast cancer development, mean that breast cancer is an important global health issue. In most cases, breast cancer is estrogen dependent. Estrogen acts by binding to the estrogen receptor (ER), a transcription regulatory protein that acts by altering gene expression in breast cancer cells. Endocrine therapies are aimed at inhibiting ER activity by competing with estrogen for binding to ER in the case of anti-estrogens such as tamoxifen, or prevent ER activation by inhibiting estrogen biosynthesis (aromatase inhibitors). The use of these endocrine agents has contributed to a significant reduction in breast cancer mortality in the Western World over the last 10-15 years. Moreover, recent clinical studies have demonstrated that these endocrine agents are also efficacious for breast cancer prevention in women at high risk of developing breast cancer.

Research Interest

Breast cancer