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Anti-estrogen therapy associated with reduced risk for death from lung cancer
Bouchardy C. Cancer. 2011;doi:10.1002/cncr.25638.
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Anti-estrogen therapy for the treatment of breast cancer was associated with a reduced risk for death from lung cancer, according to recent data.
Researchers from Sweden used the Geneva Cancer Registry to identify 6,655 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1980 and 2003; 46% of whom received anti-estrogen therapy. Patients were followed until December 2007 for occurrence and death from lung cancer. Lung cancer incidence and mortality rates were compared among women who were or were not treated with anti-estrogens and women in the general population.
Forty women developed lung cancer after 57,257 person-years. The lung cancer incidence rate for women treated with anti-estrogens was 55.4 per 100,000 person-years vs. 78.8 per 100,000 person-years for women treated without (P=.39). Compared with the general population, the standard incidence ratio was not significantly decreased for women who received anti-estrogens (SIR=0.63; 95% CI, 0.33-1.10) and those who did not (SIR=1.12; 95% CI, 0.74-1.62). However, standardized mortality rates were decreased among women who received anti-estrogens (SMR=0.13; 95% CI, 0.02-0.47) but not among those who did not (SMR=0.76; 95% CI, 0.43-1.23).
According to the researchers, their results demonstrate an association between anti-estrogen therapy and a reduction in lung cancer mortality, thereby “reinforcing the evidence that estrogen plays a key role in lung cancer progression,” they wrote. “Existing large randomized clinical trials for adjuvant breast cancer therapy and for primary prevention with tamoxifen are the ideal settings for more definitive assessment regarding the role of anti-estrogens on lung cancer outcome.”
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