This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Estrogen alone provides protective effect in breast cancer risk reduction
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
33rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
SAN ANTONIO — Hormone replacement with exogenous estrogen alone provided a protective effect while reducing the risk for breast cancer, according to data from an analysis of the Women's Health Initiative hormone replacement trials.
“Our analysis suggests that, contrary to previous thinking, there is substantial value in bringing HRT with estrogen alone to the guidelines,” Joseph Ragaz, MD, oncologist and clinical professor in the faculty of medicine at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, said in a press release. “The data show that for selected women it is not only safe, but potentially beneficial for breast cancer, as well as for many other aspects of women’s health.”
Ragaz and colleagues used data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) hormone replacement trials to study the difference between exogenous estrogen vs. endogenous estrogen for the reduction of breast cancer risk.
“Over the last 30 years, HRT has been used almost indiscriminately by women expecting the benefit of reducing cardiac risks, while providing a protective effect against bone fracture and improving overall quality of life,” Ragaz said in the release. “The WHI results, as originally interpreted, led to a major pendulum swing against HRT.”
Two cohorts were included in the WHI trial: women who had a hysterectomy and received estrogen only and those who did not have a hysterectomy and received both estrogen and progestin.
The researchers reported that estrogen alone was associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer incidence among women with no strong family history of breast cancer (HR=0.68; 95% CI, 0.50-0.92). Similar results were reported for women with no prior history of disease (HR=0.57; 95% CI, 0.51-0.78) and those with no prior HRT use (HR=0.65; 95% CI, 0.46-0.92). Seventy-five percent of women without benign disease prior to enrollment also had a reduced risk.
According to Ragaz, more data are needed to determine the optimum treatment regimen, improve the selection process and understand the mechanisms of action that support the prevention of breast cancer.
“The recommendation based on prior analyses of the results of the WHI HRT studies was not to use HRT, but we are optimistic this will change,” he said. “Our conclusion, based on the data presented, should enhance considerations for an early approval of HRT based on estrogen-alone for the majority of selected women suffering with menopausal symptoms and galvanize new research on HRT to define the optimum regimens for individual women.
For more information:
- Ragaz J. #1410. Presented at: The 33rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; Dec. 8-12, 2010; San Antonio.
 |
Follow HemOncToday.com on Twitter. |