Retinoids in breast cancer prevention and treatment. A review of the literature

During the last three decades, research focused on cancer treatment has led to the development of many cytotoxic agents. Despite the fact that these e fforts have significantly improved the prognosis of certain malignancies su ch as some lymphomas, leukemias and testicular carcinomas, other tumour suc h as ovarian, lung and metastatic breast cancer are still associated with a poor prognosis. An innovative approach has recently emerged, thanks to a better understandi ng of tumor cell biology and many efforts are aimed at finding compounds ca pable of restoring a more differentiated phenotype to tumor cells, thereby reducing the tumor's aggressiveness and ultimately reverting it to its norm al counterpart [1, 2]. Retinoids are the prototype of this new therapeutica l approach called "differentiation therapy".