TY - JOUR
T1 - Adjuvant endocrine therapies for postmenopausal women with early breast cancer
T2 - Standards and not
AU - Dellapasqua, Silvia
AU - Castiglione-Gertsch, Monica
PY - 2005/12
Y1 - 2005/12
N2 - Hormonal manipulations have been used for more than 100 years for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and after definition of the concept of micro-metastases also in the adjuvant setting. In the postmenopausal population, tamoxifen has played the most important role for almost four decades. Progestins or the first generation of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) were only marginally used in the adjuvant setting due to their prohibitive toxicity. The new generation of anti-estrogen compounds, the selective estrogen receptor down-regulators (SERDs) like fulvestrant have a higher affinity for the estrogen receptor than tamoxifen, but none of its agonist activities, and have shown promising clinical activity in the treatment of advanced breast cancer. The third generation of AIs investigated in six large trials has been reported to be superior to tamoxifen in terms of disease-free survival, but not in terms of survival. These trials will be discussed in terms of results in different subpopulations and of toxicity.
AB - Hormonal manipulations have been used for more than 100 years for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and after definition of the concept of micro-metastases also in the adjuvant setting. In the postmenopausal population, tamoxifen has played the most important role for almost four decades. Progestins or the first generation of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) were only marginally used in the adjuvant setting due to their prohibitive toxicity. The new generation of anti-estrogen compounds, the selective estrogen receptor down-regulators (SERDs) like fulvestrant have a higher affinity for the estrogen receptor than tamoxifen, but none of its agonist activities, and have shown promising clinical activity in the treatment of advanced breast cancer. The third generation of AIs investigated in six large trials has been reported to be superior to tamoxifen in terms of disease-free survival, but not in terms of survival. These trials will be discussed in terms of results in different subpopulations and of toxicity.
KW - Aromatase inhibitors
KW - Breast cancer
KW - Endocrine therapy
KW - Postmenopausal
KW - Tamoxifen
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U2 - 10.1016/j.breast.2005.08.017
DO - 10.1016/j.breast.2005.08.017
M3 - Article
C2 - 16188442
AN - SCOPUS:28044435062
VL - 14
SP - 555
EP - 563
JO - Breast
JF - Breast
SN - 0960-9776
IS - 6
ER -