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Zoledronic Acid in the Treatment of Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Is There a Final Verdict?

  • Breast Cancer (KR Fox, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Breast cancer, which preferentially metastasizes to bone, is the most common malignancy among women worldwide and is a leading cause of death. Clinical data from large, phase 3 trials (ie, ABCSG-12, ZO-FAST, and AZURE) demonstrate significantly improved disease-free survival with zoledronic acid in some patient populations with early breast cancer. Although the interim results from the AZURE trial did not show a disease-free survival benefit with zoledronic acid in the overall patient population, subset analyses showed that zoledronic acid significantly improved disease-free survival in women with established postmenopausal status at baseline. Similarly, subset analyses of the ABCSG-12 trial showed greater benefits from zoledronic acid in patients over 40 years of age who theoretically would have achieved more complete ovarian suppression. Together, these data support a potential role for zoledronic acid beyond bone health in breast cancer and suggest that the endocrine environment may influence the anticancer potential of zoledronic acid.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support for medical editorial assistance was provided by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. We thank Duprane Pedaci Young, PhD, ProEd Communications, Inc., for her medical editorial assistance with this manuscript.

Disclosure

M. Gnant: served as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Novartis, and Pfizer, and has received lecture fees and honoraria for participation on advisory boards from AstraZeneca, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Roche, Schering, Amgen, and Pfizer.

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  1. Department of Surgery, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria

    Michael Gnant

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Gnant, M. Zoledronic Acid in the Treatment of Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Is There a Final Verdict?. Curr Oncol Rep 14, 35–43 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-011-0209-5

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