New
Service for TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
readers...roll mouse over, click on
highlighted links in stories to review items
from Amazon
Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Bone
Drug Could Help Prevent the Spread of Breast
Cancer
Newswise — Maintaining bone density could be a key to decreasing the
spread of cancer in women with locally
advanced breast cancer, according to
research at Washington University School of
Medicine in St. Louis.
Bones are common sites for the spread, or metastasis, of breast cancer.
Scientists here found that women treated for
stage II/III breast cancer who also received
a bone strengthening drug were less likely
to have breast tumor cells growing in their
bones after three months.
The
bone-strengthening drug used was zoledronic
acid, a drug that decreases bone turnover
and reduces bone fractures in patients with
osteoporosis.
The findings will be reported June 3 at 11 a.m. CT at the 2008 American
Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting
in Chicago.
"Tumor cells are continually being released from the primary tumor," says
lead author Rebecca Aft, M.D., Ph.D.,
associate professor of surgery, faculty
member of the Siteman Cancer Center and a
Washington University breast surgeon at
Barnes Jewish Hospital.
"It is thought that
the bone marrow harbors these cells and that
these cells are likely to evolve into
metastatic disease. We think that zoledronic
acid changes the bone marrow so that cancer
cells are unable to lodge there."
The researchers randomly assigned 120 women being treated for clinical
stage II/III breast cancer to receive 4
milligrams of zoledronic acid intravenously
every three weeks for one year, starting
with their first cycle of chemotherapy, or
to receive no zoledronic acid. Stage II/III
cancer means the primary tumor has spread
into lymph nodes or other areas near the
breast.
At the time of diagnosis, none of the patients had evidence of metastatic
disease on computed tomography (CT) and/or
positron emission tomography (PET) scans.
But bone marrow samples showed that about 40
percent of the patients had detectable
breast tumor cells in the bone marrow.
Prior research has shown that women with even minuscule clusters of
breast tumor cells — called micrometastases
— in their bone marrow at the time of their
diagnosis have an increased risk of
developing large metastatic tumors later.
The researchers took bone marrow samples again three months and one year
after treatment began. Only 23 percent of
women who got zoledronic acid had tumor
cells after three months compared to 36
percent of those who didn't get the drug.
This result did not reach statistical
significance.
Of women who started with no tumor cells in their bone marrow, 88 percent
remained free of tumor cells in their bone
marrow if they got zoledronic acid, compared
to 70 percent of those who did not receive
the drug. This result approached statistical
significance. The one-year results are not
yet available.
Aft says that women who receive chemotherapy for breast cancer have
increased rates of bone turnover, which can
release growth factors and produce a
favorable environment for cancer cells. The
suppression of bone turnover by zoledronic
acid or other bisphosphonate drugs could
make bones less friendly surroundings for
cancer.
"We found that patients who are negative for tumor cells in bone marrow
have a very good chance of staying negative
if they take zoledronic acid," Aft says. "If
longer follow up shows that women without
tumor cells in their bones do not go on to
develop metastatic disease, then it would be
reasonable to say that bisphosphonates will
likely benefit women with locally advanced
breast cancer."
Aft R, Ylagan L, Watson M, Chavez-MacGregor M, Trinkaus K, Zhai J,
Naughton M, Weilbaecher K. Effect of
zoledronic acid on bone marrow
micrometastases in women undergoing
neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.
2008 American Society of Clinical Oncology
Annual Meeting, May 30 - June 2, 2008.
Funding from Novartis and Pfizer Inc.
supported this research.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer
faculty physicians also are the medical
staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis
Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine
is one of the leading medical research,
teaching and patient care institutions in
the nation, currently ranked third in the
nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through
its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St.
Louis Children's hospitals, the School of
Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
Siteman Cancer Center is the only federally designated Comprehensive
Cancer Center within a 240-mile radius of
St. Louis. Siteman Cancer Center is composed
of the combined cancer research and
treatment programs of Barnes-Jewish Hospital
and Washington University School of
Medicine. Siteman has satellite locations in
West County and St. Peters, in addition to
its full-service facility at Washington
University Medical Center on South
Kingshighway.
...
...
...