Introduction:

breast cancer is the most frequent pathology within carcinomas occurring in females. It happens when breast cells grow uncontrolled due to failure of proliferative regulatory mechanisms. Current treatments involve high adverse effects for the health of patients and the efficacy in many cases is not as expected.

Objective:

to describe the advances in the treatment of breast carcinoma which are based on high biological activity, selectivity and low toxicity.

Methods:

articles related to the research were taken from SciELO, Pubmed, Springer, ScienceDirect, Mediagraphic and Redalyc databases. Theoretical methods of analysis and synthesis allowed the study of the topic in question, and 75 % of the publications of the last three years were chosen.

Development:

work is currently underway on the development of new drugs against breast cancer including STAT3 transcription factor inhibitors, PARP poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and the use of micro-RNA biomarkers. Molecular docking techniques have allowed the design of estrogen receptor and human epidermal growth factor inhibitors with lower energy values than natural compounds.

Conclusions:

the development of potential candidates aims at decreasing tumor toxicity and invasiveness as well as increasing selectivity and biological activity. The design of master keys may be an attractive option against breast cancer.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )