''For the use of hormone antagonists in

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, see

hormonal therapy (oncology) Hormonal therapy in oncology is hormone therapy for cancer and is one of the major modalities of medical oncology (pharmacotherapy for cancer), others being cytotoxic chemotherapy and targeted therapy (biotherapeutics). It involves the manipulat ...

'' A hormone antagonist is a specific type of

receptor antagonist A receptor antagonist is a type of receptor ligand or drug that blocks or dampens a biological response by binding to and blocking a receptor rather than activating it like an agonist. Antagonist drugs interfere in the natural operation of rece ...

which acts upon

hormone receptor A hormone receptor is a receptor molecule that binds to a specific chemical messenger . Hormone receptors are a wide family of proteins made up of receptors for thyroid and steroid hormones, retinoids and Vitamin D, and a variety of other receptors ...

s. Such

pharmaceutical drug A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

s are used in

antihormone therapy Antihormone therapy is a type of hormone therapy that suppresses selected hormones or their effects, in contrast with hormone replacement therapy, which encourages hormone activity. The suppression of certain hormones can be beneficial to patient ...

External links

* Hormonal agents Receptor antagonists {{biochemistry-stub