Estrogen-suppressing drugs substantially reduce Breast Cancer

A class of hormonal drugs called aromatase inhibitors substantially reduce the risk of death in postmenopausal women with the most common type of breast cancer, a major study of more than 30,000 women shows. The research underlines the importance of aromatase inhibitors in the treatment of oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer, and shows they reduce risk of death by significantly more than the older hormonal treatment tamoxifen.
The study, published in The Lancet, is relevant to postmenopausal women with ER-positive breast cancer, which accounts for over 80 per cent of cases which occur after the menopause. Each trial had used both aromatase inhibitors and tamoxifen at various times during the course of treatment.
In the study, researchers from the Aromatase Inhibitors Overview Group, chaired by Professor Mitch Dowsett at The Institute of Cancer Research, London and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust - collaborated with colleagues at the Clinical Trials Service Unit at The University of Oxford, to combine the results from 31,920 women in nine clinical trials.
The study was funded by Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council and conducted under the umbrella of the Early Breast Cancer Trialists Collaborative Group.
Aromatase inhibitors suppress the synthesis of oestrogens and are taken by postmenopausal women with hormone-sensitive (ER-positive) breast cancer.