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I also find your statement of breast cancer (hormone sensitive) being an endocrine disease to be very thought provoking.
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Tanya,
My internist agreed with me immediately when I said this to him two years ago. He is board certified in geriatrics, and sees many cancer patients of all types. He remarked that breast cancer was a totally different cancer from lung cancer or colon cancer. He also said the reason he believed it to be an endocrine disease is that it is far more common among women who have not had children.
I have spent the three years since my own dx doing extensive research through the medical literature, and have seen abstracts and papers on many different types of hormone interactions and their relationship to breast cancer (i.e., hypothyroidism and the relationship of levothyroxine to sex binding hormone globulin, the relationship of SSRI's to the body's estrogen metabolism, etc.), and it seems that pretty much anything that can disrupt or affect the estrogen balance in the body can affect a signaling pathway that can be involved in breast cancer. Thus, the entire endocrine system should be evaluated in each patient to determine how an imbalance in any part of it can contribute to breast cancer. Just looking at the breast is missing the boat, IMO. We need endos to get on board, because their involvement is the key not just to treatment but to prevention.
Hopeful