Breast cancer research and treatment
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Aug 2010
ReviewSystematic review of aromatase inhibitors in the first-line treatment for hormone sensitive advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
To undertake a systematic review of three first-line treatments (letrozole, anastrozole and exemestane) for hormone sensitive advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC) in post-menopausal women. We searched six databases from inception up to January 2009 for relevant trials regardless of language or publication status. Randomised controlled clinical trials assessing the safety and efficacy of first-line AIs for post-menopausal women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+, i.e. ⋯ However, these results are based on indirect comparisons and a network analysis for which the basic assumptions of homogeneity, similarity and consistency were not fulfilled. Therefore, despite the fact that these are the best available data, the results need to be interpreted with appropriate caution. Head-to-head comparisons between letrozole, anastrozole and exemestane in the first-line MBC setting are warranted.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Aug 2010
Adjuvant! Online estimation of chemotherapy effectiveness when added to ovarian function suppression plus tamoxifen for premenopausal women with estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer.
Adjuvant. Online (Adjuvant!) is a user-friendly, web-based tool that provides estimates of adjuvant therapy outcomes for individual patients. While reliable evidence underpins estimates for most patient cohorts, there is a paucity of data on the effect of adding chemotherapy to complete estrogen blockade for premenopausal women with estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer. ⋯ By contrast, these estimates in Trial 11-93 were 76.4% (95% CI, 65.8-84.0%) for endocrine therapy alone and 74.9% (95% CI, 64.5-82.7%) for chemoendocrine therapy. The Adjuvant! estimate for the endocrine-alone control group is lower than that observed in Trial 11-93 (P = 0.03), while the estimates for the two chemoendocrine therapy groups are similar. Adjuvant! appears to underestimate the effectiveness of adjuvant endocrine therapy alone for premenopausal women with endocrine responsive breast cancer, thus overestimating the added benefit, if any, from chemotherapy for this patient population.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Jul 2010
Meta Analysis Comparative StudyTransforming growth factor-beta1 polymorphisms and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis based on 27 case-control studies.
The association between transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk has been widely reported, but results were somewhat controversial and underpowered. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship between TGF-beta1 polymorphisms and breast cancer risk, we conducted a meta-analysis of all available case-control studies relating the T869C and/or C-509T polymorphisms of the TGF-beta1 gene to the risk of developing breast cancer. Eligible articles were identified by search of databases including MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Chinese Biomedical Literature database (CBM) for the period up to March 2010. ⋯ With respect to C-509T polymorphism, no significant association with breast cancer risk was demonstrated in overall analysis (T vs. C: OR = 0.986, 95% CI = 0.936-1.039). It can be concluded that potentially functional TGF-Beta1 T869C polymorphism may play a low penetrance role in breast cancer susceptibility in an ethnicity-specific manner.