Calcium glucarate as a chemopreventive agent in breast cancer.

Although it appears that progress is being made in the treatment of breast cancers of all stages, the etiological agents still remain unclear and render the search for preventive agents extremely difficult. What is clearly required in this situation is a nontoxic compound that can potentially affect various pathways that may be responsible for the rising incidence of breast cancer. In this review, we present the rationale for the use of an agent such as calcium glucarate, which may both change the internal hormonal milieu and also directly detoxify any environmental agents responsible for breast cancer. It is hoped that present and future clinical trials will help to better elucidate the role for this agent in the chemoprevention of breast cancer.