From hyperplasia to frank breast neoplasia. Carcinogenesis. Immunoprevention.

There is strong evidence that in advanced cases of breast fibrocystic disease, the risk of cancer is elevated. Cyclic breast glandular hyperplasia is commonly associated with mastodynia and/or breast fibrocystic disease. The administration of progestins, antiestrogens and/or local progesteron, results in some cases in a desensibilisation, accompanied by loss in responsiveness to hormonal therapy. Out of 167 patients (pts) suffering from mastodynia and/or breast fibrocystic disease with positive delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTHS) reactions to a pharmaceutical Placenta Suspension (PS), when injected intradermally, in 87 pts. who failed to respond to hormonal therapy, a vaccine preparade from PS admixed with an adjuvant (BCG), was administrated in one intradermal injection (0.1). In all the pts. recruited into the study, a complete remission of the symptoms occurred and in the majority of cases lasted throughout the 12 month follow-up period. The essential factor of relative hyper-estrinism, initiates breast epithelial hyperplasia and also increases stromal ground substance, which has the propensity to fibrous reorganisation. A true or relative hypoxia results, as a consequence of connective tissue sclerosis and epithelial thickness, constituting a supplementary factor for further epithelial proliferation. The risk of gene faults is greater when hypoxia operates at cell viability level and for long enough duration. Within the frame of persistent multicellular proliferative potential, a basic shift in energy metabolism is accompanied by appearance of fetal isoenzymes and of membrane glycoproteins, that induces a host immunological reaction (emphasised by PS).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)