Benita Katzenellenbogen, professor of molecular and integrative physiology, and John Katzenellenbogen, professor of chemistry, collaborated with researchers at Scripps Research Institutes on a publication that outlines new dual-mechanism estrogen receptor inhibitors, called DMERIs.

The professors are members of the Cancer Center at Illinois, which promotes interdisciplinary research on campus that harnesses the combined power of engineering and basic sciences to transform cancer research, detection, and treatment. 

DMERIs are antiestrogens that work by a novel dual mechanism, interacting with the estrogen receptor at two sites in contrast to currently used antiestrogens that operate through only one site. In addition to inhibiting wild-type estrogen receptor-containing breast cancers, the DMERIs block endocrine-resistant breast cancers. The preclinical findings suggest that these compounds might prove useful in the future in the treatment of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) primary breast cancers and recurring, metastatic breast cancers.

Additional researchers involved in this study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, include Illinois graduate student Valeria Sanabria Guillen, Jian Min and Yingwei Hou, postdoctoral associates, and Yvonne Ziegler, Kathryn Carlson, Shunchao Yan, and Sung Hoon Kim, research associates.