Cabergoline Suppresses Postpartum Breast Cancer by Enhancing Mammary Gland Involution in Brca1-Mutant Mice and Is Associated with Reduced Risk in Younger Women
Menée à l'aide de modèles murins avec mutation du gène BRCA puis à partir de données issues de deux cohortes européennes, cette étude met en évidence un mécanisme par lequel la cabergoline, un agoniste dopaminergique, supprime le développement de tumeurs mammaires postpartum en accélérant l'involution des glandes mammaires, puis démontre une association entre un traitement par cabergoline et une réduction de l'incidence des cancers du sein postpartum
Breast cancer that arises in the postpartum period often carries a poor prognosis and urgently requires chemoprevention strategies, particularly for women at elevated risk. Here, we report that a single post-lactation dose of cabergoline, a dopaminergic agonist that blocks prolactin secretion, delays the onset and reduces the incidence of postpartum mammary cancer in K14-Cre; Brca1F/F, Trp53F/F mice. In these mice, cabergoline treatment remodels the mammary gland by potentiating involution, reducing ductal area and proliferation, and reversing T cell exhaustion, potentially through modulation of ion channel expression. Notably, independent retrospective studies in two large cohorts of European women showed that cabergoline treatment was associated with a lower incidence of postpartum breast cancer, with a meta-analysis indicating an approximate 69% reduction in risk. Our work underscores the importance of targeting postlactational involution as a strategy for the prevention of postpartum breast cancer and positions cabergoline as a novel, low-risk chemoprevention strategy.
Cancer Discovery , article en libre accès, 2026