Cabergoline Suppresses Postpartum Breast Cancer by Enhancing Mammary Gland Involution in Brca1-Mutant Mice and Is Associated with Reduced Risk in Younger Women

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.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Cancer Discovery
Published
2026-10-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.cd-26-0187
Primary Topic
BRCA gene mutations in cancer
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Cabergoline Suppresses Postpartum Breast Cancer by Enhancing Mammary Gland Involution in Brca1-Mutant Mice and Is Associated with Reduced Risk in Younger Women

Nhan L. T. Nguyen, Eduardo J. Caleiras, Roberto Corchado‐Cobos, Adrián Blanco‐Gómez et al.
Cancer Discovery
BRCA gene mutations in cancer
article

Cabergoline Suppresses Postpartum Breast Cancer by Enhancing Mammary Gland Involution in Brca1-Mutant Mice and Is Associated with Reduced Risk in Younger Women

Nhan L. T. Nguyen, Eduardo J. Caleiras, Roberto Corchado‐Cobos, Adrián Blanco‐Gómez, Natalia García‐Sancha, Jesús Pérez‐Losada, Miguel Ángel Pujana, Diego Alonso‐López, Sonia Castillo‐Lluva, David Perera, Mercè Marzo‐Castillejo, Edoardo Botteri, Ryan Ghorayeb, Oriol Cunillera, Manuel Jesús Pérez‐Baena, Jian‐Hua Mao, Isabel Peset, Luís Palomero, Hang Chang, María Carmen Patino-Alonso, Christopher A. Maxwell, Brad H. Nelson, Roderic Espín, Katy Milne, Patricia González‐García, María Begoña García Cenador, Francesca Mateo, Jaime Pignatelli, Alejandro Jiménez‐Navas, Nathalie C. Støer, Marina Mendiburu‐Eliçabe, Ashok R. Venkitaraman, Luis Félix Valero Juan, Nélida Salvador, Alberto Órfão, Eva Sacristán-Horcajada, Javier De Las Rivas, Julio Pozo, Francisco Javier García‐Criado, Chelsey Lynn Gough
article en

Abstract

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
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES), BC Cancer Agency (CA), Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NO), University of British Columbia (CA), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US), National University of Singapore (SG), Universidad de Salamanca (ES), Instituto Cajal (ES), Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge (ES), Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (ES), MRC Cancer Unit (GB), Institut Català d'Oncologia (ES), Institut Universitari d'Investigació en Atenció Primària Jordi Gol (ES), Cancer Registry of Norway (NO), Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca (ES), Centro de Investigación del Cáncer (ES), Institut Curie (FR)
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
BRCA gene mutations in cancer
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.