Crosstalk of methylation and tamoxifen in breast cancer (Review)

Tamoxifen is a widely used anti-estrogen drug in the endocrine therapy of breast cancer (BC). It blocks estrogen signaling by competitively binding to estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha), thereby inhibiting the growth of BC cells. However, with the long-term application of tamoxifen, a subset of patients with BC have shown resistance to tamoxifen, which leads to low overall survival and progression-free survival. The molecular mechanism of resistance is mainly due to downregulation of ER alpha expression and abnormal activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Moreover, the downregulation of targeted gene expression mediated by DNA methylation is an important regulatory mode to control protein expression. In the present review, methylation and tamoxifen are briefly introduced, followed by a focus on the effect of methylation on tamoxifen resistance and sensitivity. Finally, the clinical application of methylation for tamoxifen is described, including its use as a prognostic indicator. Finally, it is hypothesized that when methylation is used in combination with tamoxifen, it could recover the resistance of tamoxifen.