Patient/caregiver was instructed upon tamoxifen and mechanism of action as follows:
- Tamoxifen is a medication that belongs to a class of drugs that selectively bind to estrogen receptors located in different body tissues and modulate or alter their function.
- This group of drugs are called selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs).
- Tamoxifen is mainly used in the treatment of estrogen responsive breast cancer in men and women, apart from other treatment modalities, such as, surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
- Increased binding of estrogen to the estrogen receptors and the consequent response of proliferation of the breast tissue, is considered to play a significant role in the growth of tumors in the breast tissue.
- Binding of tamoxifen to the estrogen receptors in the breast tissue progressively modulate these receptors.
- This modulation of estrogen receptors results in reduced response of these receptors to estrogen, thus blocking the proliferative action of estrogen on the breast tissue and helping to prevent growth of tumors in the breast tissue.
- Tamoxifen binding to the estrogen receptors in the breast tissue is known to decrease the synthesis of certain growth factors that stimulate cancer cell growth in breast tissue and also increase the synthesis of certain other growth factors that inhibit the cancer cell growth in the breast tissue.
- These collective actions of tamoxifen in the body help to prevent growth of tumors in the breast tissue of men and women.
