Drugs for Breast Cancer Reduce Death Risks from Lung Cancer

A new study carried out by a researcher at the Geneva Cancer Registry, concluded that an anti-estrogen breast cancer drug, called tamoxifen, could reduce the risk of an individual dying from lung cancer.

According to prior research, menopausal hormone therapy increases women's risk of dying from lung cancer, so assuming that this is correct, an anti-estrogen therapy should have the complete opposite effect.

In other words, this new study supports the theory that lung cancer can be influenced by hormones, and that the levels of estrogen are very important for a patient's lung cancer prognosis.

This Geneva Cancer Registry researcher is Elisabetta Rapiti, MD, and the study she led made a comparison between lung cancer incidence and mortality among breast cancer patients, who were or were not treated with anti-estrogen therapy.

The study included 6,655 women registered at the Geneva Cancer Registry, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer between 1980 and 2003.

Among them, 3,066 (46%) received anti-estrogen medication.

The occurrence and death from lung cancer were followed until December 2007, in all women in the study, the results showing that 40 of them developed lung cancer.

There was no significant difference between breast cancer patients who were and were not treated with anti-estrogen medication, compared to the general population, nevertheless, fewer women on anti-estrogens died from lung cancer than the researchers expected.

Otherwise said, there were 87% fewer cases of death because of lung cancer in the anti-estrogen group, than in the general population.

Dr Rapiti said that the “results support the hypothesis that there is a hormonal influence on lung cancer which has been suggested by findings such as the presence of estrogen and progesterone receptors in a substantial proportion of lung cancers.

“If prospective studies confirm our results and find that anti-estrogen agents improve lung cancer outcomes, this could have substantial implications for clinical practice,” she added.

This research was published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.