New Therapy Could Assist Older Breast Cancer Patient

Investigators at the University of Sheffield and the University of Leeds, both in the United Kingdom, have discovered that a drug currently used to protect bones against damage also has positive effects in extending the survivability rates of elderly breast cancer patients.

The unexpected connection could be used to set the foundation for new therapies against this type of cancer, while researchers also check to see if the link extends to other tumor types as well. The most recent investigation was called the AZURE trial.

It revolved around assessing the performances of the bisphosphonate drug zoledronic acid. According to the earliest results, it would appear that the drug has an adverse side-effect on young women.

However, it does boost a disease-free track record in postmenopausal women suffering from breast cancer. Given this difference, experts expect the difference between ages to be generated by some type of interactions between the drug and some hormones.

Until the conflict is fixed, scientists will be working on making the chemical more efficient against breast cancer in senior women. Details of the new investigation appear in the September 25 issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

The findings were presented at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress as well. The meeting was held in Stockholm yesterday. At the conference, experts reminded that the class of drugs which includes zoledronic acid is usually employed to treat, or mitigate for, osteoporosis.

“The results have shown that zoledronic acid should not be used routinely for the treatment of early breast cancer,” University of Sheffield professor and study leader Robert Coleman explains.

“However, for those with low levels of female hormones, due either to natural ageing or specific treatments to induce menopause, the approach appears very promising as more women go on to rid themselves of the disease,” he adds.

The investigation lasted for 8 years, and covered the cases of women from the UK, Australia, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Taiwan and Thailand. A total of 3,360 patients from 174 research centers and hospital were surveyed since 2003.

“The statistics of this analysis are complex and the results need to be interpreted with a degree of caution. The size and significance of the difference by menopausal status suggests that this finding is genuine, but we will need to carry out further studies to substantiate this exciting result,” Helen Marshall adds.

She was the principal statistician for this investigation. Marshall is based at the University of Leeds' Clinical Trials Research Unit (CTRU).