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Anti-Estrogen Treatment Shrank Lung Tumors in Mice

Posted 9 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Jan. 9 – Combination drug treatment that targets estrogen production significantly reduced the number of tobacco carcinogen-related lung tumors in mice, a new study shows. "Anti-estrogens have been shown to prevent breast cancer in some women," Jill Siegfried, a professor in the department of pharmacology and chemical biology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, said in an American Association for Cancer Research news release. "If anti-estrogens can prevent lung cancer as well, this would be a major advance, because these drugs are safe to give for long periods and there are no approved ways to prevent lung cancer," she added. Most lung cancers have a type of estrogen receptor that makes tumors grow when they're exposed to estrogen. In addition, aromatase, an enzyme in the lung, produces estrogen. Siegfried and her team found that blocking this estrogen receptor ... Read more

Side Effects Cause Many Older Women to Drop Breast Cancer Drugs

Posted 12 Dec 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Dec. 12 – Severe side effects may be key to why so many older breast cancer patients stop taking drugs that can help prevent a tumor's return, a new study finds. The research also revealed a large gap between what these breast cancer patients tell their doctors about drug side effects and what they actually experience, according to the study authors from Northwestern University in Chicago. Their study included 686 postmenopausal women with estrogen-sensitive breast cancer who were asked about their symptoms before treatment with estrogen-blocking drugs called aromatase inhibitors, which include medications such as Arimidex, Aromasin and Femara. The women were tracked at three, six, 12 and 24 months after starting treatment. After three months, about one-third of the patients had severe joint pain, 28 to 29 percent had hot flashes, nearly one-quarter had decreased libido, 15 to ... Read more

Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Femara, Arimidex, Aromasin, Anastrozole, Letrozole, Exemestane, Testolactone, Teslac

Femara May Beat Tamoxifen at Preventing Breast Cancer's Return

Posted 24 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Oct. 21 – The breast cancer drug letrozole, marketed as Femara, may be more effective than tamoxifen at preventing the return of breast cancer and improving survival among older women with hormone-sensitive breast cancers, a new study reports. In the study, published online Oct. 21 in The Lancet Oncology, the researchers updated data from an ongoing study of about 8,000 women, which compares the two drugs alone as well as the use of both Femara and tamoxifen sequentially. Femara outperformed tamoxifen in terms of breast cancer recurrence and survival, the study found. Moreover, giving Femara alone to women was more effective than giving it sequentially following tamoxifen. The new study was partially funded by Novartis, the drug company that makes Femara. The hormone estrogen feeds hormone-sensitive cancers, and blocking it may help stave off a recurrence. Femara is part of a ... Read more

Cancer Patients Should Ask Doctors to Use Simple Terms

Posted 28 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28 – Cancer patients are often faced with many difficult-to-understand treatment choices that can have serious side effects and even mean the difference between life and death. That's why it's crucial that patients insist doctors use plain language in explaining the options, advised Angela Fagerlin, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and a researcher at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. "People are making life and death decisions that may affect their survival and they need to know what they're getting themselves into. Cancer treatments and tests can be serious. Patients need to know what kind of side effects they might experience as a result of the treatment they undergo," Fagerlin said in a university news release. She and her colleagues outlined a number of tips to help patients get the information they need ... Read more

Breast Cancer Treatment May Lead to Hip Fracture

Posted 7 Feb 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Feb. 4 – Middle-aged breast cancer survivors face an increased risk for hip fractures, a condition normally uncommon in women younger than 70, a new study has found. Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago say that this may be because early menopause caused by breast cancer treatment and the effects of breast cancer drugs could weaken the bones by the time women reach middle age. The finding came from a study of six women who had survived breast cancer and, in their early 50s, were being treated for hip fractures. Most of the women did not have osteoporosis, but they did have lower-than-normal bone mineral density (osteopenia). This suggests that rapid changes in bone architecture caused by chemotherapy, early menopause and adjuvant breast cancer therapy may not be detected on a bone mineral density test, said Dr. Beatrice Edwards, an associate professor of medicine ... Read more

Certain Breast Cancer Drugs Linked With Heart Risks in Older Women

Posted 9 Dec 2010 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Dec. 9 – Long-term use of aromatase inhibitors, drugs often prescribed to breast cancer patients, may increase the risk of heart problems for postmenopausal women, according to a Canadian researcher. ''There have always been suspicions," said Dr. Eitan Amir, senior fellow at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, who is scheduled to present the findings this week at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in Texas. In December 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added a warning label to anastrozole, an aromatase inhibitor marketed as Arimidex, citing a potential increased risk for heart disease. Amir's team evaluated previously published studies to find out if other aromatase inhibitors also increased the risk of heart disease in postmenopausal women with breast cancer. ''We looked at seven trials which have compared aromatase inhibitors with tamoxifen,'' he said ... Read more

Related support groups: Femara, Arimidex, Aromasin, Anastrozole, Letrozole, Exemestane, Testolactone, Teslac

Experts Issue New Guidelines on Breast Cancer Drugs

Posted 13 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, July 13 – A leading group of cancer experts has issued new guidelines on the best way to use two classes of hormone therapies for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, the most common form of breast tumor. After a systematic review of medical research on the subject, experts reported that adding an aromatase inhibitor – a drug that reduces the amount of estrogen produced in the body – has clearly been shown to reduce the number of tumor recurrences in postmenopausal women compared with the standard drug tamoxifen, which works by blocking the action of estrogen on cancer tumors that are estrogen-receptor positive. The committee preparing the guidelines recommended, therefore, that all postmenopausal women with this type of breast cancer use aromatase inhibitors either before or after tamoxifen. They also concluded that women could use them as long as five years after ... Read more

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Further Information

Related Condition Support Groups

Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic, Pubertal Gynecomastia, McCune-Albright Syndrome

Related Drug Support Groups

Arimidex