In a new study from Dartmouth, researchers found a new method to treat drug-resistant breast cancer.
Anti-estrogen treatments, which block growth signals from estrogen receptors (ER) in tumors, are effective treatments for ER+ breast cancer. But it is common for breast tumors to become resistant to anti-estrogen treatments over time.
In the study, the researchers found that cycling between estrogen treatment and anti-estrogen treatment at a specific point in time can dramatically increase the duration of tumor regression.
They hope to make estrogen therapy a more accessible treatment option for breast cancer patients who could benefit from it.
The team’s new approach has exciting implications for breast cancer patients.
It suggests that treating short-term with estrogen before anti-estrogen therapy resistance occurs, and then switching back to a more standard anti-estrogen therapy can better control tumor growth long-term.
Although scientists typically think of estrogens as feeding breast cancer growth, treatment with estrogens can actually induce tumor regression in some patients with anti-estrogen resistant breast tumors.
Despite the fact that estrogen treatment is effective in some patients, estrogen therapy is rarely used.
An ongoing clinical trial will determine whether the strategy of cycling between estrogen therapy and anti-estrogen therapies is effective in human patients with advanced breast cancer.
The team says tumors that initially respond to estrogen therapy eventually develop resistance to it by decreasing the amount of estrogen receptors in the tumor cells.
Once these tumors become resistant to estrogen therapy, they can be successfully treated with anti-estrogen therapies.
This finding suggests that treatment with estrogen can re-sensitize patients’ tumors to anti-estrogen therapies, even if those tumors had previously acquired resistance to anti-estrogen treatments.
If you care about breast cancer, please read studies about breast density: common myths every woman should know and findings of these 7 things may increase breast cancer risk.
For more information about breast cancer treatment and prevention, please see recent studies about a new way to block the spread of breast cancer and results showing that this therapy may help women with common breast cancer live longer.
The study is published in Oncogene. One author of the study is Todd Miller, Ph.D.
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