Effects of a combined treatment with tamoxifen and estrogen receptor β agonists on human breast cancer cell lines

Introduction Coexpression of estrogen receptors (ER) α and β is present in about half of all breast cancer cases. Whereas ERα is a well-established target for endocrine therapy with the selective estrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen, the applicability of ERβ as target in breast cancer therapy is unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of two synthetic ERβ agonists alone and in combination with tamoxifen on ERα/β-positive breast cancer cells.