Bazedoxifene as Chemoprophylaxis for
 Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is an insidious and devastating disease.  Given the limitations of screening and our current inability to cure ovarian cancer, prevention is the key to reduction in mortality.  Epidemiological and in vitro studies demonstrate that estrogen may increase the risk of ovarian cancer.  Therefore blocking estrogen stimulation at the level of the ovarian surface epithelium may provide protection against ovarian cancer.  Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) have been widely used in breast cancer prophylaxis but there role in ovarian cancer is less clear. Bazedoxifene is a novel SERM that has been shown to inhibit estradiol induced human breast cancer cell proliferation without stimulating the endometrium.  Our hypothesis for this grant is that Bazedoxifene with its estrogen inhibition might be useful as chemoprophylactic agent for ovarian cancer. To explore this we will use a genetic mouse model of ovarian cancer to evaluate the effect of Bazedoxifene on tumor burden, cell signaling, apoptosis, and invasion.