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Hormonal therapy
Various female hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, which are naturally produced in the body, stimulate the growth of certain breast cancers. Hormonal therapy seeks to block this effect and thus to slow or stop the cancer from growing. It uses special drugs that affect the hormone receptors on cancer cells (blocking the hormone from being taken up by the cells) or that alter the levels of the hormones that the body naturally produces.
(Note: Hormonal therapy is to be clearly distinguished from hormone replacement therapy (HRT), in which women take supplemental hormones, for various reasons, such as to decrease menopausal symptoms).
Estrogen receptor tests are lab tests performed o n your breast cancer tissue to show whether your cancer is hormone sensitive. Certain hormonal treatments can be used to block this sensitivity. If the test is positive, there is usually a good change this kind of hormonal therapy will help. If the hormone test is negative, then there is only a small chance it will help.
If you are a good candidate for hormonal therapy, your doctor will recommend one of the different types of hormonal-therapy medications (also known as chemopreventive agents) that are available. If you have estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, for example, your doctor may prescribe a drug call tamoxifen. This agent is considered a selective estrogen-receptor blocker (SERM), because it attaches itself to the estrogen receptors on the surface of the cancer cell, preventing the estrogen from exerting its normal effect on the cells. Tamoxifen has been shown to reduce the risk of developing invasive breast cancer for women with hormone-responsive, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), who have had their DCIS treated surgically.
Another class of hormonal drugs, aromatase inhibitors, works by inhibiting the enzyme (protein) aromatase. This blocks the conversion process that is responsible for creating the active form of estrogen. Aromatase inhibitors include, Femara (letrozole), Arimidex (anastrozole) and Aromasin (exemestane).
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