Alternative Hormone Treatment Could Help Fight Against Breast Cancer

Luteinizing-hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists, drugs that decrease estrogen and other sex hormone levels in women, have proven effective when used alone or combined with existing treatments used in the fight against hormone receptor positive breast cancer. The authors's conclusions were published in this week's edition of The Lancet, a leading British medical journal.

Luteinizing hormone is produced in the pituitary gland and stimulates ovulation and the production of estrogen. LH-RH agonists are molecules which mimic the action of luteinizing hormone by binding to the same receptors within the pituitary gland. This substitutive binding blocks the signal for the ovary to produce estrogen, a sex hormone known to stimulate the growth of breast cancer.

Professor Jack Cuzick, Cancer Research UK Centre for Epidemiology, Mathematics and Statistics, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London, UK and colleagues found that for hormone receptor-positive patients, LH-RH agonists were as effective as chemotherapy treatment used in these trials.

Treatment with LH-RH agonists combined with chemotherapy or tamoxifen gave an additional benefit, reducing recurrence of breast cancer by nearly 13% and death after recurrence by 15%. Howeve,r the combined treatments only showed the additional benefit in women under 40. LH-RH agonists were ineffective for hormone receptor-negative tumors.

The researchers did a meta-analysis (a study which combines results from previous trials) of 16 trials and obtained data for 11,906 pre-menopausal women with early breast cancer. The authors conclude: "The results of our analysis show that LH-RH agonists provide an effective additional class of agents for the treatment of premenopausal women with hormone-sensitive breast cancer."