Abstract

Nuclear receptors (NRs) have been targets of intensive drug development for decades due to their roles as key regulators of multiple developmental, physiological and disease processes. In breast cancer, expression of the estrogen and progesterone receptor remains clinically important in predicting prognosis and determining therapeutic strategies. More recently, there is growing evidence supporting the involvement of multiple nuclear receptors other than the estrogen and progesterone receptors, in the regulation of various processes important to the initiation and progression of breast cancer. We review new insights into the mechanisms of actions of NRs made possible by recent advance in genomic technologies and focus on the emerging functional roles of NRs in the regulation of selected facets of breast cancer biology beside proliferation, including their involvement in circadian regulation, metabolic re-programming and breast cancer migration and metastasis.