Abstract
Breast cancer treatment is a rapidly changing area of oncology, with advances in diagnosis, treatment and prevention reported each year. Endocrine therapy is particularly important in the management of the disease because of its demonstrated efficacy and favorable safety profile. In response to rapidly emerging data, it is therefore crucially important that the positioning of established endocrine treatments is continually reassessed relative to the newer agents, thereby allowing clinical practice to be adapted in a measured and informed manner. This reassessment should also ensure that the broad treatment options (chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, and biological therapy) are no longer seen as discrete entities, but rather viewed as being complementary, with each agent used at an appropriate point within a planned, individualized treatment schedule. In this way, the therapeutic options can be refined and adapted to the ultimate benefit of all women with breast cancer.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Harvey HA, Santen RJ, Osterman J, Samojlik E, White DS, Lipton A: A comparative trial of transsphenoidal hypophysectomy and estrogen suppression with aminoglutethimide in advanced breast cancer. Cancer 43: 2207-2214, 1979
Manni A, Pearson OH, Brodkey J, Marshall JS: Transsphenoidal hypophysectomy in breast cancer: evidence for an individual role of pituitary and gonadal hormones in supporting tumor growth. Cancer 44: 2330-2337, 1979
Wells Jr SA, Santen RJ: Ablative procedures in patients with metastatic breast carcinoma. Cancer 53(Suppl.): 762-765, 1984
The ATAC Trialists' Group: Anastrozole alone or in combination with tamoxifen versus tamoxifen alone for adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with early breast cancer: first results of the ATAC randomised trial. Lancet 359: 2131-2139, 2002
Buzdar A: The ATAC ('Arimidex', tamoxifen, alone or in combination) trial in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer-updated efficacy results based on a median followup of 47 months. Breast Cancer Res Treat 77: 295-2003 (abstract 13)
Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group: Tamoxifen for early breast cancer: an overview of the randomised trials. Lancet 351: 1451-1467, 1998
Buzdar AU, Hortobagyi G: Update on endocrine therapy for breast cancer. Clin Cancer Res 4: 527-534, 1998
McClelland RA, Barrow D, Madden TA, Dutkowski CM, Pamment J, Knowlden JM, Gee JM, Nicholson RI: Enhanced epidermal growth factor receptor signaling in MCF7 breast cancer cells after long-term culture in the presence of the pure antiestrogen ICI 182,780 (Faslodex). Endocrinology 142: 2776-2788, 2001
Nicholson RI, Hutcheson IR, Harper ME, Knowlden JM, Barrow D, McClelland RA, Jones HE, Wakeling AE, Gee JM: Modulation of epidermal growth factor receptor in endocrineresistant, oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Endocr Relat Cancer 8: 175-182, 2001
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hortobagyi, G.N. New Approaches to Breast Cancer Therapy. Breast Cancer Res Treat 80 (Suppl 1), 1–2 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025447813637
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025447813637