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\nWhat are hormones and hormone receptors?
\nHormones are substances that function as chemical messengers in the body. They affect the actions of cells and tissues at various locations in the body, often reaching their targets through the bloodstream.
\nThe hormones estrogen and progesterone are produced by the ovaries in premenopausal women and by some other tissues, including fat and skin, in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women and in men. Estrogen promotes the development and maintenance of female sex characteristics and the growth of long bones. Progesterone plays a role in the menstrual cycle and pregnancy.
\nEstrogen and progesterone also promote the growth of some breast cancers, which are called hormone-sensitive (or hormone-dependent) breast cancers. Hormone-sensitive breast cancer cells contain proteins called hormone receptors (estrogen receptors, or ERs, and progesterone receptors, or PRs) that become activated when hormones bind to them. The activated receptors cause changes in the expression of specific genes, which can stimulate cell growth.
\nTo determine whether breast cancer cells contain hormone receptors, doctors test samples of tumor tissue that have been removed by surgery. If the tumor cells contain estrogen receptors, the cancer is called estrogen receptor positive (ER positive), estrogen sensitive, or estrogen responsive. Similarly, if the tumor cells contain progesterone receptors, the cancer is called progesterone receptor positive (PR or PgR positive). Breast tumors that contain estrogen and/or progesterone receptors are sometimes called hormone receptor positive (HR positive). Most ER-positive breast cancers are also PR positive.
\nBreast cancers that lack ERs are called ER negative, and if they lack both ER and PR they may be called HR negative.
\nApproximately 67%\u201380% of breast cancers in women are ER positive (1, 2). Approximately 90% of breast cancers in men are ER positive and approximately 80% are PR positive (3).
\nWhat is hormone therapy?
\nHormone therapy (also called hormonal therapy, hormone treatment, or endocrine therapy) slows or stops the growth of hormone-sensitive tumors by blocking the body\u2019s ability to produce hormones or by interfering with effects of hormones on breast cancer cells. Tumors that are hormone insensitive do not have hormone receptors and do not respond to hormone therapy.
\nHormone therapy for breast cancer should not be confused with menopausal hormone therapy (MHT)\u2014treatment with estrogen alone or in combination with progesterone to help relieve symptoms of menopause. These two types of therapy produce opposite effects: hormone therapy for breast cancer blocks the growth of HR-positive breast cancer, whereas MHT can stimulate the growth of HR-positive breast cancer. For this reason, when a woman taking MHT is diagnosed with HR-positive breast cancer she is usually asked to stop that therapy.
\nWhat types of hormone therapy are used for breast cancer?
\nSeveral strategies are used to treat hormone-sensitive breast cancer:
\nBlocking ovarian function: Because the ovaries are the main source of estrogen in premenopausal women, estrogen levels in these women can be reduced by eliminating or suppressing ovarian function. Blocking ovarian function is called ovarian ablation.
\nOvarian ablation can be done surgically in an operation to remove the ovaries (called oophorectomy) or by treatment with radiation. This type of ovarian ablation is usually permanent.
\nAlternatively, ovarian function can be suppressed temporarily by treatment with drugs called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, which are also known as luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists. By mimicking GnRH, these medicines interfere with signals that stimulate the ovaries to produce estrogen.
\nExamples of ovarian suppression drugs are goserelin (Zoladex) and leuprolide (Lupron).
\nBlocking estrogen production: Drugs called aromatase inhibitors are used to block the activity of an enzyme called aromatase, which the body uses to make estrogen in the ovaries and in other tissues. Aromatase inhibitors are used primarily in postmenopausal women because the ovaries in premenopausal women produce too much aromatase for the inhibitors to block effectively. However, these drugs can be used in premenopausal women if they are given together with a drug that suppresses ovarian function.
\nExamples of aromatase inhibitors approved by the FDA are anastrozole (Arimidex) and letrozole (Femara), both of which temporarily inactivate aromatase, and exemestane (Aromasin), which permanently inactivates aromatase.
\nBlocking estrogen\u2019s effects: Several types of drugs interfere with estrogen\u2019s ability to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells:
\nHow is hormone therapy used to treat breast cancer?
\nThere are three main ways that hormone therapy is used to treat hormone-sensitive breast cancer:
\nAdjuvant therapy for early-stage breast cancer: Tamoxifen is FDA approved for adjuvant hormone treatment of premenopausal and postmenopausal women (and men) with ER-positive early-stage breast cancer, and the aromatase inhibitors anastrozole, letrozole, and exemestane are approved for this use in postmenopausal women.
\nResearch has shown that women who receive at least 5 years of adjuvant therapy with tamoxifen after having surgery for early-stage ER-positive breast cancer have reduced risks of breast cancer recurrence, including a new breast cancer in the other breast, and reduced risk of death at 15 years (4).
\nUntil recently, most women who received adjuvant hormone therapy to reduce the chance of a breast cancer recurrence took tamoxifen every day for 5 years. However, with the introduction of newer hormone therapies (i.e., the aromatase inhibitors), some of which have been compared with tamoxifen in clinical trials, additional approaches to hormone therapy have become common (5\u20137).
\nFor example, some women may take an aromatase inhibitor, instead of tamoxifen, every day for 5 years. Other women may receive additional treatment with an aromatase inhibitor after 5 years of tamoxifen. Finally, some women may switch to an aromatase inhibitor after 2 or 3 years of tamoxifen, for a total of 5 or more years of hormone therapy. Research has shown that for postmenopausal women who have been treated for early-stage breast cancer, adjuvant therapy with an aromatase inhibitor reduces the risk of recurrence and improves overall survival compared with adjuvant tamoxifen (8).
\nSome premenopausal women with early-stage ER-positive breast cancer may have ovarian suppression plus an aromatase inhibitor, which was found to have higher rates of freedom from recurrence than ovarian suppression plus tamoxifen or tamoxifen alone (9).
\nMen with early-stage ER-positive breast cancer who receive adjuvant therapy are usually treated first with tamoxifen. Those treated with an aromatase inhibitor usually also take a GnRH agonist.
\nDecisions about the type and duration of adjuvant hormone therapy are complicated and must be made on an individual basis in consultation with an oncologist.
\nTreatment of advanced or metastatic breast cancer: Several types of hormone therapy are approved to treat metastatic or recurrent hormone-sensitive breast cancer. Hormone therapy is also a treatment option for ER-positive breast cancer that has come back in the breast, chest wall, or nearby lymph nodes after treatment (also called a locoregional recurrence).
\nTwo SERMs, tamoxifen and toremifene, are approved to treat metastatic breast cancer. The antiestrogen fulvestrant is approved for postmenopausal women with metastatic ER-positive breast cancer that has spread after treatment with other antiestrogens (10). Fulvestrant is also approved for postmenopausal women with HR-positive, HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer who have not previously been treated with hormone therapy (11). In addition, it may be used in premenopausal women who have had ovarian ablation.
\nThe aromatase inhibitors anastrozole and letrozole are approved to be given to postmenopausal women as initial therapy for metastatic or locally advanced hormone-sensitive breast cancer (12, 13). Both of these drugs and the aromatase inhibitor exemestane are also approved to treat postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer whose disease has worsened after treatment with tamoxifen (14). Men with advanced breast cancer who are treated with an aromatase inhibitor also receive a GnRH agonist.
\nSome women with advanced breast cancer are treated with a combination of hormone therapy and one of several targeted therapies:
\nNeoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer: The use of hormone therapy to treat breast cancer to reduce tumor size before surgery (neoadjuvant therapy) has been studied in clinical trials (24). These trials have shown that neoadjuvant hormone therapy\u2014in particular, with aromatase inhibitors\u2014can be effective in reducing the size of breast tumors in postmenopausal women, but it is not yet clear how effective it is in premenopausal women.
\nHormone therapy is sometimes used for the neoadjuvant treatment of HR-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women who cannot tolerate chemotherapy or when surgery needs to be delayed.
\nCan hormone therapy be used to prevent breast cancer?
\nYes. Most breast cancers are ER positive, and clinical trials have tested whether hormone therapy can be used to prevent breast cancer in women who are at increased risk of developing the disease.
\nA large NCI-sponsored randomized clinical trial called the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial found that tamoxifen, taken for 5 years, reduces the risk of developing invasive breast cancer by about 50% in postmenopausal women who were at increased risk (25). Long-term follow-up of another randomized trial, the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study I, found that 5 years of tamoxifen treatment reduces the incidence of breast cancer for at least 20 years (26). A subsequent large randomized trial, the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene, which was also sponsored by NCI, found that 5 years of raloxifene (a SERM) reduces breast cancer risk in such women by about 38% (27).
\nAs a result of these trials, both tamoxifen and raloxifene have been approved by the FDA to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer in women at high risk of the disease. Tamoxifen is approved for this use regardless of menopausal status. Raloxifene is approved for use only in postmenopausal women.
\nTwo aromatase inhibitors\u2014exemestane and anastrozole\u2014have also been found to reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women at increased risk of the disease. After 3 years of follow-up in a randomized trial, women who took exemestane were 65% less likely than those who took a placebo to develop breast cancer (28). After 7 years of follow-up in another randomized trial, women who took anastrozole were 50% less likely than those who took a placebo to develop breast cancer (29). Both exemestane and anastrozole are approved by the FDA for treatment of women with ER-positive breast cancer. Although both are also used for breast cancer prevention, neither is approved for that indication specifically.
\nWhat are the side effects of hormone therapy?
\nThe side effects of hormone therapy depend largely on the specific drug or the type of treatment (7). The benefits and harms of taking hormone therapy should be carefully weighed for each person. A common switching strategy used for adjuvant therapy, in which patients take tamoxifen for 2 or 3 years, followed by an aromatase inhibitor for 2 or 3 years, may yield the best balance of benefits and harms of these two types of hormone therapy (30).
\nHot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness are common side effects of all hormone therapies. Hormone therapy also may disrupt the menstrual cycle in premenopausal women.
\nLess common but serious side effects of hormone therapy drugs are listed below.
\nTamoxifen
\nRaloxifene
\nOvarian suppression
\nAromatase inhibitors
\nFulvestrant
\nCan other drugs interfere with hormone therapy?
\nCertain drugs, including several commonly prescribed antidepressants (those in the category called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs), inhibit an enzyme called CYP2D6. This enzyme plays a critical role in the body's use of tamoxifen because CYP2D6 metabolizes, or breaks down, tamoxifen into molecules, or metabolites, that are much more active than tamoxifen itself.
\nThe possibility that SSRIs might, by inhibiting CYP2D6, slow the metabolism of tamoxifen and reduce its effectiveness is a concern given that as many as one-fourth of breast cancer patients experience clinical depression and may be treated with SSRIs. In addition, SSRIs are sometimes used to treat hot flashes caused by hormone therapy.
\nMany experts suggest that patients who are taking antidepressants along with tamoxifen should discuss treatment options with their doctors, such as switching from an SSRI that is a potent inhibitor of CYP2D6, such as paroxetine hydrochloride (Paxil), to one that is a weaker inhibitor, such as sertraline (Zoloft) or citalopram (Celexa), or to an antidepressant that does not inhibit CYP2D6, such as venlafaxine (Effexor) (31). Or doctors may suggest that their postmenopausal patients take an aromatase inhibitor instead of tamoxifen.
\nOther medications that inhibit CYP2D6 include the following:
\nPeople who are prescribed tamoxifen should discuss the use of all other medications with their doctors.
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