Aromatase inhibitors: rationale and use in breast cancer

Considerable data implicate estrogens in breast cancer carcinogenesis and progression. In the postmenopausal woman, estrogens are produced in breast tissues and many other sites throughout the body when androgen precursors are converted into estrogens via the enzyme aromatase. Inhibition of this enz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of medicine 2005-01, Vol.56 (1), p.103-116
Main Authors: Osborne, Cynthia, Tripathy, Debu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aromatase Inhibitors - therapeutic use
Breast - physiopathology
Breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy
Breast Neoplasms - physiopathology
Carcinogens
Clinical trials
Enzymes
Estrogens
Estrogens - physiology
Female
Humans
Inhibitor drugs
Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent - drug therapy
Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent - physiopathology
Postmenopause - physiology
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Side effects
Tamoxifen - therapeutic use
Treatment Outcome
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Summary:Considerable data implicate estrogens in breast cancer carcinogenesis and progression. In the postmenopausal woman, estrogens are produced in breast tissues and many other sites throughout the body when androgen precursors are converted into estrogens via the enzyme aromatase. Inhibition of this enzyme with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) has demonstrated reductions in systemic as well as intratumoral estrogens. These drugs have now been utilized in large phase 3 randomized trials and have led to greater improved clinical benefit than the "gold standard," tamoxifen. Questions remain about the long-term side effects and safety profile of AIs. They are associated with increasing incidence of osteoporosis and bone fractures. Nevertheless, AIs add to our armamentarium for therapy and possible prevention of breast cancer.
ISSN:0066-4219
1545-326X
DOI:10.1146/annurev.med.56.062804.103324