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New Cancer Research Could Bring Hope to High-Risk Women

Georgetown doctors agree, new breast cancer treatments "offer new alternatives."

As thousands walked or ran to raise money and awareness for breast cancer education and prevention in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in D.C., researchers 700 miles away were presenting research that could help prevent women from developing breast cancer.

At the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago on Saturday, researchers presented studies that advance the fight against women's cancers.

In a trial, one anti-estrogen drug called exemestane was shown to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer by 65 percent in postmenopausal women who are at high risk.

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Anti-estrogen drugs, which counteract the growth of cancers that need estrogen to grow, usually have serious side effects and aren't often used. But exemestane blocks the enzymes used to produce the hormone estrogen and has fewer serious side effects.

"Our study not only showed an impressive reduction in breast cancers, but also an excellent side effect profile, although my cautionary note is that average follow-up to date has been only 3 years,” said the study's main author, Dr. Paul E. Goss of Massachusetts General Hospital.

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Researchers are hopeful that their study will encourage more postmenopausal women at high risk for developing breast cancer to use exemestane.

“Many women have declined the current medications that are FDA approved for prevention. The trial findings offer a new alternative for these women," said Dr. Jennifer Eng-Wong, Senior Medical Director at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“If confirmed, the findings of this study suggest that exemestane may be an important consideration for postmenopausal women at high risk of breast cancer by virtue of their family history," said Beth Peshkin, a genetic counselor and associate professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "For these women, their risk of breast cancer, and their worry about it, may not reach a threshold for which they would consider mastectomy, so this alternative may offer an attractive option [with surveillance and mammograms.]”

But Eng-Wong also said that more research needs to be done to get a full picture of how well the newer drug works compared to other options.

“This trial also raises new questions. Since exemestane was compared to placebo we do not have head to head results with either tamoxifen or raloxifene [other anti-estrogen preventative drugs] in regards to efficacy. This question should be answered by some ongoing trials."

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