Endocrine Abstracts

Fulvestrant (faslodex) is currently the only available new pure antioestrogen. It has a long side chain in the 7 alpha position which impedes receptor dimerisation and function and results in increased turnover and reduced numbers of receptor molecules. Faslodex is active against tamoxifen resistant human tumour cells both in vitro[1] and in the clinic[2]. Given for 2-3 weeks preoperative Faslodex causes downregulation of both oestrogen and progesterone receptors[3].Faslodex w...

The importance of endogenous hormones in the aetiology of breast cancer has long been evident from the strong relationships between breast cancer risk and certain aspects of a woman’s reproductive history1. More recently, the risk of developing breast cancer among postmenopausal women has also been shown to increase substantially with increasing levels of circulating oestradiol2, thus providing more direct evidence for the role of hormones in the development of the disea...

For the last 3 decades tamoxifen has been the mainstay of the endocrine treatment of breast cancer. In early hormone receptor positive disease, 5 years of tamoxifen reduces the annual odds of death by c.25% and this has been a major contributor to the reduction in mortality from breast cancer in the UK since 1988. The generally good tolerability of tamoxifen has also led to its use in trials of chemoprevention where it has been found to reduce the early risk of presenting with...

Abstract unavailable...