Two publications in Journal of Clinical Oncology have reported that response to endocrine therapy in patients with breast cancer is associated with clinical markers. In the first study, 974 postmenopausal patients with breast cancer received a baseline and a follow-up mammogram to determine response to adjuvant therapy. The women receiving tamoxifen who had a decrease in mammographic density of >20% also had a decrease in the risk of death from breast cancer of 50%. The second study assessed the association between survival of 9,325 patients receiving endocrine therapy and the incidence of adverse effects associated with the depletion of oestrogens. The effects were vasomotor symptoms, musculoskeletal adverse events, and vulvovaginal symptoms. The authors report that the incidence of these specific adverse effects were associated with improved survival outcomes, and might be useful in predicting response.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS
Li, J. et al. Mammographic density reduction is a prognostic marker of response to adjuvant tamoxifen therapy in postmenopausal patients with breast cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. doi:10.1200/JCO.2012.44.5015
Fontein, D. B. Y. et al. Specific adverse events predict survival benefit in patients treated with tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors: an international tamoxifen exemestane adjuvant multinational trial analysis. J. Clin. Oncol. doi:10.1200/JCO.2012.45.3068
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Adverse effects and mammographic density as markers. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 10, 304 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2013.75
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2013.75