Vitamin Compound May Help Prevent Breast Cancer in Young Women
October 9, 2000 - 0:0
BRUSSELS A drug based on a derivative of vitamin A may help to prevent high-risk young women from developing breast cancer, doctors said on Thursday. A study presented at the Second European Breast Cancer Conference showed that the vitamin A derivative, called fenretinide, prevented a second tumor developing in young women with early breast cancer. "The results suggest that when fenretinide is used against a background of circulating estrogen, as there is in premenopausal women, it has potential to prevent the disease," Dr. Alberto Costa, of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, told the conference.
"This drug could make a major impact, both as a treatment and as a primary preventive of breast cancer in younger women and, what is also important, it appears to be well tolerated," he added. Costa and his colleagues tested the compound on nearly 3,000 women with early breast cancer. Half were given fenretinide after surgery for five years and the other half received no further treatment. When the researchers followed up the women eight years after the initial treatment, they discovered only 27 younger women who had taken the compound developed a second cancer in the healthy breast and 58 in the same breast, compared to 42 and 87 in the untreated group.
But when the scientists checked the results of older women who were past the menopause the opposite occurred. Women who had not taken the derivative had fewer secondary cancers than those who did. Costa said two other studies are already in progress.
One study is testing the compound combined with a low dose of the anticancer drug tamoxifen and the other is studying the effects of fenretinide plus hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in older women. Women whose breast cancer is caught in the earliest stages have the best chance of beating the disease but about one in 100 each year develop a cancer in the healthy breast and two or three will have a second cancer in the same breast, according to the researchers.
Scientists and doctors are presenting more than 250 presentations during the five-day conference in Brussels which is highlighting the latest research and treatments for the disease.
(Reuter)
"This drug could make a major impact, both as a treatment and as a primary preventive of breast cancer in younger women and, what is also important, it appears to be well tolerated," he added. Costa and his colleagues tested the compound on nearly 3,000 women with early breast cancer. Half were given fenretinide after surgery for five years and the other half received no further treatment. When the researchers followed up the women eight years after the initial treatment, they discovered only 27 younger women who had taken the compound developed a second cancer in the healthy breast and 58 in the same breast, compared to 42 and 87 in the untreated group.
But when the scientists checked the results of older women who were past the menopause the opposite occurred. Women who had not taken the derivative had fewer secondary cancers than those who did. Costa said two other studies are already in progress.
One study is testing the compound combined with a low dose of the anticancer drug tamoxifen and the other is studying the effects of fenretinide plus hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in older women. Women whose breast cancer is caught in the earliest stages have the best chance of beating the disease but about one in 100 each year develop a cancer in the healthy breast and two or three will have a second cancer in the same breast, according to the researchers.
Scientists and doctors are presenting more than 250 presentations during the five-day conference in Brussels which is highlighting the latest research and treatments for the disease.
(Reuter)