Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy and Bone Health in Breast Cancer.

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies of women. The majority of breast cancers express estrogen and/or progesterone receptors, permitting anticancer targeting strategies to reduce estrogen signaling in the cancer cells and thereby lowering the risk of breast cancer recurrence. The development of the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) tamoxifen marked a significant milestone in breast cancer care that transcended older estrogen ablative strategies such as oophorectomy and ovarian irradiation. An unintended benefit of tamoxifen in postmenopausal women was bone density preservation. The third generation of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) have demonstrated superior efficacy to tamoxifen in improving disease-free survival in postmenopausal women. However, the AIs significantly increase bone resorption, reduce bone mineral density, and increase the risk of fracture above that of tamoxifen. As a consequence of this, clinical oncologists have assumed a larger role in the screening and treatment of the skeletal complications of breast cancer therapies. The key features of managing bone health in women with early stage breast cancer receiving adjuvant endocrine therapy are reviewed here.