Treatment of established breast cancer in post-menopausal women: Role of aromatase inhibitors

The Surgeon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Samphao ◽  
J.M. Eremin ◽  
M. El-Sheemy ◽  
O. Eremin
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Amrilmaen Badawi

The prevalence of breast cancer is still very high among women, in particular post-menopausal women. There are many factors contributed to the diseases, including diabetes. Recently, it has been emerged that metformin, an antidiabetic agent, is capable of reducing the risk of developing breast cancer among post-menopausal women, and act as aromatase inhibitors (AIs) which inhibits the production of estrogen. In this review, we focus in discussing the possible work mechanism of metformin as AIs and what is in the pipeline on clinical trials.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-42
Author(s):  
James J Stark

The use of Aromatase Inhibitors (AI’s) in the adjuvant therapy of operable breast cancer is ubiquitous. All guidelines in widespread use advocate their use in hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer in post-menopausal women. Premenopausal hormone-receptor-positive women who are considered at high risk of relapse are also treated with drug- or surgically-induced ovarian suppression plus an AI following chemotherapy, producing somewhat better results than those seen with chemo followed by tamoxifen [1]. A major side effect of these drugs is the accelerated loss of bone mineral density (BMD). The use of bone-sparing agents such as bisphosphonates has become widespread but not routine in these patients. Whether or not they receive bone-sparing agents, patients on AI’s should receive periodic assessment of bone density. How do doctors comply with this common-sense approach? The answer: not as often as they should. The best data on this practice was published in the Journal of Oncology Practice in May 2017 from a group of investigators at Yale [2]. Using the SEER Medicare database they identified over 135,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer from 2007 to 2010. Using robust exclusion criteria for such things as metastasis at presentation, too brief exposure to bisphosphonates, in situ only cancer, and prior diagnosis of osteoporosis, they identified 2409 women who met all entry criteria and served as the population studied. Within this group only 51% received a DEXA scan at initiation of AI and only 34% had a second scan within three years of being on therapy. What the authors were not able to ascertain was how many of these patients were placed on a prophylactic bisphosphonate or equivalent at the start of AI therapy. What was clear is that age and race had a lot to do with who received a DEXA scan. 30% of women over 85 vs. 56% ages 67-69 were scanned. 53% of causasian women were scanned vs. 33% non-caucasian. Wonen with higher stage and more comorbidities were also less likely to have been scanned.


1996 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R. Barakat

Tamoxifen is commonly used in the management of patients with breast cancer. Clinical trials of tamoxifen involving over 75,000 patients demonstrate an improved recurrence-free and overall survival benefit in both pre- and post-menopausal women. Large-scale trials also are evaluating the role of tamoxifen as a chemopreventive agent in women considered to be at high risk for developing breast cancer based on family history. Endometrial cancer is an uncommon complication of tamoxifen therapy. Since the majority of these cancers will be detected at an early stage when they are highly curable, however, the overall benefit of tamoxifen treatment in breast cancer patients outweighs this risk. All women receiving tamoxifen who have a uterus should undergo regular gynecologic examinations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahul B. Ghuge ◽  
Prashant R. Murumkar ◽  
Kailash M. Choudhary ◽  
Karan D. Joshi ◽  
Monica Chauhan ◽  
...  

Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer and one of the leading causes of death among all the cancers affecting women worldwide. Preliminary cause of development of tumors in the breast cancer in post-menopausal women is mostly the increased estrogen levels in the body which could be the result of overexpression of aromatase CYP450 i.e. CYP19A1. Aromatase is the only enzyme present in humans that brings about aromatization of A-ring of 19-carbon androgens to form 18-carbon estrogens. Inhibiting aromatase enzyme thereby decreasing the estrogen levels in the postmenopausal women has been considered as an important strategy for the management of breast cancer. Three generations of aromatase inhibitors including steroidal viz. testolactone, formestane, exemestane and non-steroidal viz. aminoglutethimide, fadrozole, letrozole, anastrozole, the two classes of drugs have been approved for clinical use for the treatment of breast cancer. A large number of research and review articles have been reported so far describing the therapeutic efficacy of steroidal and non-steroidal aromatase inhibitors. However, steroidal aromatase inhibitors, being more selective inhibitors and having certain other advantages, overruled the discovery of novel aromatase inhibitors compared to the non-steroidal aromatase inhibitors which lack selectivity for CYP450 aromatase. In this review, efforts have been made to describe the developments of steroidal aromatase inhibitors to date.


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