Hormone therapy hopes for ovarian cancer
The treatment could prolong life in some women
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Friday, 15, Jun 2007 01:12
A hormone treatment for breast cancer could also help extend the lives of women with ovarian cancer and provide an alternative to chemotherapy, a new study claims.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh found that targeted use of the anti-oestrogen drug Letrozole hormone therapy (LHT) could prolong the life of some patients by up to three years and delay the use of chemotherapy in others.
Ovarian cancer affects one in 48 women and nearly 7,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the UK.
LHT attacks cancer by turning off its oestrogen supply. Writing in the journal Clinical Cancer Research the researchers argue that, in cancers which are highly sensitive to oestrogen, this blocking mechanism could slow the growth and spread of the disease.
They based their findings on studies in 44 women with high oestrogen receptor (ER) levels whose cancers had relapsed after surgery and chemotherapy.
By tracking the process of tumours during hormone treatment, they found that one quarter of the women showed no tumour growth after six months of anti-oestrogen therapy and a third of the group with the greatest ER values showed a positive response which delayed the use of chemotherapy.
Lead researcher John Smyth, professor of medical oncology at the University of Edinburgh, said that the study is an "important landmark" in the research and treatment of ovarian cancer.
"Despite intense scientific research over the past 20 years, there have been few new leads in our understanding of how this disease operates," he added.
"But this study suggests that the addition of hormone therapy to our treatment strategy could extend and improve the lives of women with cancer."
Dr Simon Langdon, senior lecturer in cancer research at the University of Edinburgh and the lead scientist behind this trial, added: "Ovarian cancer can be a devastating disease, so this new discovery is particularly exciting.
"We still have a lot to do, but this research has furthered our understanding of the hormone control of ovarian cancer, which could provide less gruelling treatments for cancer patients. It presents new possibilities for tailor-made cancer therapy and demands further investigation."