Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators and Prevention of Invasive Breast Cancer
- William J. Gradishar, MD;
- David Cella, PhD
- Author Affiliation: Division of Hematology/Oncology and Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Program, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Dr Gradishar); and Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University (Dr Cella), Chicago, Ill.
- Corresponding Author: William J. Gradishar, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 676 N St Clair, Suite 850, Chicago, IL 60611 (w-gradishar{at}northwestern.edu).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Published online June 5, 2006 (doi:10.1001/jama.295.23.jed60037).
This year, more than 200 000 women in the United States will be diagnosed as having invasive breast cancer.1 The past 20 years of research translating an understanding of basic biology into therapeutics has led to major improvements in the survival and quality of life of patients who carry a diagnosis of breast cancer. Parallel strategies to prevent breast cancer have also been studied. These include lifestyle modification (eg, diet, alcohol intake, optimizing weight, exposure to exogenous estrogens), ablative surgery (prophylactic mastectomy, oophorectomy, or both), and more recently, chemoprevention with selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) such as tamoxifen.
More than 30 years ago, tamoxifen entered clinical trials and demonstrated significant antitumor activity in patients with advanced breast cancer. Understanding of what characterized the type of patient and the types of tumors that would benefit from tamoxifen was refined with an understanding of estrogen receptor …
