|
Exemestane steadily lowered levels of "good" cholesterol in women taking the agent as part of a breast cancer prevention study, say researchers at Georgetown LombardiComprehensive Cancer Center. Exemestane, an aromatase inhibitorused to treat estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, is beingtested to prevent breast cancer in women at an increased risk ofdeveloping the disease. Georgetown researchers say their findings, presented at the 2011CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), suggest thatthe effect this agent has on blood lipids may prove to besignificant for women at high risk for heart disease due to elevated blood cholesterol, although no such effects havebeen seen yet in patients studied over two years of treatment. There are two types of cholesterol transported in our blood - HDLand LDL. HDL cholesterol is known as "good" cholesterol, becausehigh levels of it protect against heart attack. LDL cholesterol is known as "bad" cholesterol because it canbuildup in the inner walls of the arteries that feed the heart andbrain, and lead to atherosclerosis. "Lower levels of the HDL, the good cholesterol, have been shown toincrease the risk of heart attack and stroke . While we found that exemestane lowers good cholesterol levels,the clinical significance of this decrease is unknown," says astudy investigator, Margaret Gatti-Mays, M.D. an intern in internalmedicine at Georgetown. The results come from a phase II multi-institutional study of womenat increased risk for breast cancer that evaluated the safety andefficacy of exemestane over two years of therapy. The findings,from 31 patients, showed that the absolute change from the baselineHDL level at 3, 12, and 24 months were -8.0 mg/dL, -8.5 mg/dL, and-9.9 mg/dL, respectively. The rest of the lipid panel, includingLDL (the bad cholesterol) was relatively unchanged. "It is notable that both women taking and not taking lipid-loweringmedication had decreases in HDL," Gatti-Mays says. "Lower HDL levels are associated with an increased risk of heartdisease, so if a patient has a low HDL level, exemestane may not bethe best choice as a breast cancer prevention agent," says thestudy's senior investigator, Jennifer Eng-Wong, M.D., seniormedical director of the Capital Breast Care Center at GeorgetownLombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. She adds that other anti-estrogen therapies designed to preventbreast cancer don't appear to lower HDL. "Less data is available onanastrozole and letrozole, which are other aromatase inhibitors,but they do not appear to lower HDL. Conversely, tamoxifen has anoverall favorable effect on cholesterol." "Exemestane has been shown to be an effective therapy in theprevention of breast cancer in postmenopausal women who have anincreased risk of developing it. This study adds information thatwill help individualize care for these women though larger studiesare needed to more fully evaluate the impact of exemestane oncholesterol and cardiovascular health," says Gatti-Mays. The research was conducted at Georgetown and the National CancerInstitute (NCI), and was supported by both institutions, as well asthe National Institutes of Health, and Pfizer Inc. (which suppliedexemestane). (OVER) A recipient of the ACCR Scholar-in-Training Award, Gatti-Mays'travel to the SABCS conference was funded by this award which issupported by Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She reports no personalfinancial interests related to the study. The 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium is presentedby the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at UT Health Science CenterSan Antonio, the American Association for Cancer Research, andBaylor College of Medicine. Additional References Citations. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Digital Multimeter , China Humidity Temperature Meter, and more. For more , please visit RTD Calibrator today!
Related Articles -
China Digital Multimeter, China Humidity Temperature Meter,
|
