It is clear that even one drink/day significantly increases serum DHEAS levels in postmenopausal women (Dorgan et al., 1994). DHEAS can be metabolized to estrogen in situ, by pathways involving steroid sulfatase and aromatase activities (Geisler et al., 2011). The resulting estrogen could then increase the growth rate or other characteristics of ER+ breast cancers. If this hypothesis is correct, then aromatase inhibitors (Goss et al., 2011), and/or steroid sulfatase inhibitors (Geisler et al., 2011) would be protective against alcohol related breast cancer.
