ETHANOL AND EXPERIMENTAL BREAST-CANCER - A REVIEW

There is considerable evidence from epidemiological studies to support a positive association between alcohol intake and risk for breast can cer. Yet, experimental evidence has provided less convincing evidence to support this relationship, although much less attention has been fo cused on elucidating the effect of ethanol on breast carcinogenesis in animal models. Although the number of reports are limited, informatio n on the effect of ethanol on mammary carcinogenesis in spontaneous, c hemically induced and metastatic models has been published. In additio n, a small number of reports provide insights into an influence of eth anol on the physiological processes associated with the initiation, pr omotion, and progression stages of breast carcinogenesis in animals, a s well as on the growth of human breast cancer cells. This information from the literature is summarized, and specific recommendations put f orth so that greater progress can be made in this controversial and co mplex research area.