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In what may turn out to be a long-missing piece in the puzzle of breast cancer, researchers have identified the molecular sparkplug that ignites cases of the disease currently unexplained by the classical model of breast-cancer development. "We have identified what we believe is the original molecular trigger that initiates a cascade culminating in breast tumor development in a subset of breast cancers that are driven by estrogen," said Peter Park. The researchers said as many as one-third of breast cancer cases may arise through the newly identified mechanism. The study also shows that the sex hormone estrogen is the...

Despite the perception of many oncologists that tamoxifen is an inferior drug, and should be substituted by an aromatase inhibitor in post-menopausal women, the current evidence strongly supports the view that AIs should be used 2–3 years after tamoxifen to achieve the maximal overall survival (OS) advantage. The last year has been an interesting time for oncologists interested in the adjuvant hormonal treatment of post-menopausal women with receptor-positive early breast cancer. Three important new pieces of clinical research were presented at the 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: a meta-analysis of the Aromatase Inhibitor (AI) trials (Ingle et al, 2008b)...

A hormone therapy for breast cancer can reduce the chances of deadly spread of the disease by nearly a fifth, according to new trial findings. Women given the aromatase inhibitor exemestane after surgery were 19% less likely to suffer metastatic, or spreading, cancer than those receiving standard treatment. Cancer is most deadly when it travels around the body, affecting vital organs such as the brain or liver. Each year more than 45,600 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in the UK and the disease kills around 12,300 women. Exemestane, marketed as Aromasin, works by shutting off production of the...

Canadian Press Toronto — An osteoporosis drug has been found to reduce the incidence of invasive breast cancer in high-risk, post-menopausal women as effectively as tamoxifen, the medication considered the gold standard for warding off the disease over the last two decades. In a head-to-head study, both tamoxifen and raloxifene were found to reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer by almost 50 per cent compared with placebo — but raloxifene had far fewer serious side-effects. “This is good news for women,” Dr. Leslie Ford of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, told a teleconference Monday to announce the results of...

WHAT if there was growing evidence that an already-existing drug, taken daily, might dramatically reduce the risk of breast cancer? Shouldn't that be more newsworthy than fund-raising walkathons done in the quixotic pursuit of a simple cure? More noteworthy than the latest lab test which classifies an environmental chemical as a rodent carcinogen? U.S. scientists, led by Harvard's Dr. Peter Goss, this week began recruiting women at high risk of breast cancer to participate in a study of what may well be just such a drug. That "chemical prevention" of cancer has come so far will be a shock to...

Drugs that completely block estrogen can lower the risk of breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women after surgery, according to the latest study to suggest that some women can improve their chances of recovering from breast cancer with aromatase inhibitors. The study followed more than 4,700 women who took tamoxifen, the most common treatment for preventing recurrences of breast cancer. But women who switched to the estrogen-blocker exemestane two and a half years later cut their chances of developing another tumor by a third. Taking exemestane, which is sold under the brand name aromasin by Pfizer, also provided better protection...