News You Can Use
News Releases from the 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
By Stefania Medvedik
Will tamoxifen work for you? Gene test may tell
Mayo Clinic researchers and investigators from the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG) are recommending CYP2D6 gene testing for postmenopausal women before they start treatment with the breast cancer drug tamoxifen.
Women with a deficiency in the CYP2D6 gene were shown to benefit less from tamoxifen because they poorly metabolize the drug. Testing for the gene deficiency may help clinicians devise more effective treatment plans for these women.
Zometa can boost anti-tumor activity, improve clinical outcomes
Researchers from the UK reported that patients taking the bone drug Zometa (zoledronic acid) in addition to chemotherapy had, on average, smaller tumors than patients treated with chemotherapy alone.
The study also showed that a smaller proportion of patients on the Zometa/chemotherapy combo (65.3%) required mastectomy compared with the chemotherapy alone group (77.9%).
Femara: BIG study supports that this AI may be better than tamoxifen post surgery in early stage ER-positive breast cancer
Researchers from the Breast International Group (BIG) 1-98 study reported that women taking the aromatase inhibitor Femara (letrozole) for five years had an improved survival benefit compared with women who took tamoxifen alone.
Metastatic breast cancer: AI resistance reversed with lower estrogen dose
A study that included six U.S. cancer centers showed that a 6 mg daily dose of estradiol was as effective at stabilizing/shrinking tumors and reversing aromatase inhibitor resistance as 30 mg daily in patients with ER-positive metastatic breast cancer who became resistant to their AI.
The Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee closed the 30 mg arm of the study early after concluding that the 6 mg dose was as effective as and safer than the higher dose, with fewer side effects.
DOXIL with Taxotere delays disease progression better than Taxotere alone in metastatic breast cancer
Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and colleagues reported that metastatic breast cancer patients previously treated with an anthracycline who were given DOXIL (pegylated liposomal doxorubicin) in addition to Taxotere (docetaxel) had better overall response rates and significant improvement in time to disease progression than patients treated with Taxotere alone.
