Letrozole inhibits tumor proliferation more effectively than tamoxifen independent of HER1/2 expression status

Cancer Research

Volumn 63, Issue 19, 2003, Pages 6523-6531

  Ellis, Matthew J ^a,c   Coop, Andrew ^b   Singh, Baljit ^c   Tao, Yu ^a   Llombart Cussac, Antonio ^d   Jänicke, Fritz ^e   Mauriac, Louis ^f   Quebe Fehling, Erhard ^g   Chaudri Ross, Hilary A ^g   Evans, Dean B ^g   Miller, William R ^h  

^a DUKE CANCER INSTITUTE   (United States)

^b GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c Department of Pathology ^*  (United States)

^d INSTITUTO VALENCIANO DE ONCOLOGÍA   (Spain)

^e UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER HAMBURG EPPENDORF   (Germany)

^f INSTITUT BERGONIÉ   (France)

^g NOVARTIS PHARMA AG   (Switzerland)

^h WESTERN GENERAL HOSPITAL   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR RECEPTOR; ESTROGEN RECEPTOR; KI 67 ANTIGEN; LETROZOLE; PROGESTERONE RECEPTOR; TAMOXIFEN; TREFOIL FACTOR 1; TREFOIL PEPTIDE; UNCLASSIFIED DRUG;

ADJUVANT CHEMOTHERAPY; ADULT; AGED; ARTICLE; BREAST CANCER; CELL CYCLE; CLINICAL TRIAL; CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL; CONTROLLED STUDY; DOUBLE BLIND PROCEDURE; DRUG EFFICACY; DRUG INHIBITION; ESTROGEN ACTIVITY; FEMALE; GENE EXPRESSION; HORMONAL THERAPY; HUMAN; IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY; MAJOR CLINICAL STUDY; ONCOGENE NEU; PHASE 3 CLINICAL TRIAL; POSTMENOPAUSE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL;

ANTINEOPLASTIC AGENTS, HORMONAL; BREAST NEOPLASMS; CELL DIVISION; DOUBLE-BLIND METHOD; FEMALE; HUMANS; IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY; KI-67 ANTIGEN; NEOADJUVANT THERAPY; NITRILES; PROTEIN BIOSYNTHESIS; PROTEINS; RECEPTOR, EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR; RECEPTOR, ERBB-2; RECEPTORS, ESTROGEN; RECEPTORS, PROGESTERONE; TAMOXIFEN; TRIAZOLES; TUMOR SUPPRESSOR PROTEINS;

EID: 10744233578     PISSN: 00085472     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Mouridsen, H., Gershanovic, M., Sun, Y., Perez-Carrion, R., Boni, C., M., A., Apffelstaedt, J., Smith, R., Sleeboom, H., Jaenicke, F., Pluzanska, A., Dank, M., Becquart, D., Bapsy, P., Salminen, E., Snyder, R., Lassus, M., Verbeek, A., Staffler, B., Chaudri-Ross, H., and Dugan, M. Superior efficacy of Letrozole versus Tamoxifen as first line therapy for postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer: results of a Phase III study of the International Letrozole Breast Cancer Group. J. Clin. Oncol., 19: 2596-2606, 2001.
2. Nabholtz, J. M., Buzdar, A., Pollak, M., Harwin, W., Burton, G., Mangalik, A., Steinberg, M., Webster, A., and von Euler, M. Anastrozole is superior to tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women: results of a north American multicenter randomized trial. J. Clin. Oncol., 18: 3758-3767, 2000.
3. Eiermann, W., Paepke, S., Appfelstaedt, J., Llombart-Cussac, A., Eremin, J., Vinholes, J., Mauriac, L., Ettis, M., Lassus, M., Chaudri-Ross, H. A., Dugan, M., and Borgs, M. Preoperative treatment of postmenopausal breast cancer patients with letrozole: a randomized double-blind multicenter study. Ann. Oncol., 12: 1527-1532, 2001.
4. Baum, M., Buzdar, A. V., Cuzick, J., Forbes, J., Houghton, J. H., Klijn, J. G., and Sanmoud, T. Anastrozole alone or in combination with tamoxifen versus tamoxifen alone for adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with early breast cancer: first results of the ATAC randomised trial. Lancet, 359: 2131-2139, 2002.
5. Ellis, M. J., and Swain, S. M. Steroid hormone therapies for cancer. In: B. A. Chabner and D. L. Longo (eds.), Cancer Chemotherapy and Biotherapy, pp. 85-138. Philadelphia: Lippincott Willaims and Wilkins, 2001.
6. Brodie, A. M., and Njar, V. C. Aromatase inhibitors and breast cancer. Semin. Oncol., 23: 10-20, 1996.
7. Jordan, V. C. Molecular mechanisms of antiestrogen action in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. Treat., 31: 41-52, 1994.
8. Buzdar, A., Jonat, W., Howell, A., Jones, S., Blomqvist, C., Vogel, C., Eiermann, W., Wolter, J., Azab, M., Webster, A., and Plourde, P. Anastrozole, a potent and selective aromatase inhibitor, versus megestrol acetate in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer: results of overview analysis of two phase III trials. Arimidex Study Group. J. Clin. Oncol., 14: 2000-2011, 1996.
9. Kaufmann, M., Bajetta, E., Dirix, L. Y., Fein, L. E., Jones, S. E., Zilembo, N., Dugardyn, J. L., Nasurdi, C., Mennel, R. G., Cervek, J., Fowst, C., Polli, A., di Salle, E., Arkhipov, A., Piscitelli, G., Miller, L. L., and Massimini, G. Exemestane is superior to megestrol acetate after tamoxifen failure in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer: results of a phase III randomized double-blind trial. The Exemestane Study Group. J. Clin. Oncol., 18: 1399-1411, 2000.
10. Dombernowsky, P., Smith, I., Falkson, G., Leonard, R., Panasci, L., Bellmunt, J., Bezwoda, W., Gardin, G., Gudgeon, A., Morgan, M., Fornasiero, A., Hoffmann, W., Michel, J., Hatschek, T., Tjabbes, T., Chaudri, H. A., Hornberger, U., and Trunet, P. F. Letrozole, a new oral aromatase inhibitor for advanced breast cancer: double-blind randomized trial showing a dose effect and improved efficacy and tolerability compared with megestrol acetate. J. Clin. Oncol., 16: 453-461, 1998.
11. Ellis, M. J., Hayes, D., and Lippman, M. Treatment of metastatic breast cancer. In: J. R. Harris, M. Lippman, M. Morrow, and C. K. Osborne (eds.), Diseases of the Breast, Ed. 2, pp. 749-797. Philadephia: Lippencott Williams and Wilkins, 2000.
12. Katzenellenbogen, B. S., Montano, M. M., Ekena, K., Herman, M. E., and McInerney, E. M. William L. McGuire Memorial Lecture. Antiestrogens: mechanisms of action and resistance in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. Treat., 44: 23-38, 1997.
13. Ring, A., and Dowsett, M. Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 and hormonal therapies: clinical implications. Clin. Breast Cancer, 4 (Suppl. 1): S34-S41, 2003.
14. Dowsett, M. Overexpression of HER-2 as a resistance mechanism to hormonal therapy for breast cancer. Endocr. Relat. Cancer, 8: 191-195, 2001.
15. Benz, C. C., Scott, G. K., Sarup, J. C., Johnson, R. M., Tripathy, D., Coronado, E., Shepard, H. M., and Osborne, C. K. Estrogen-dependent, tamoxifen-resistant tumorigenic growth of MCF-7 cells transfected with HER2/neu. Breast Cancer Res. Treat., 24: 85-95, 1993.
16. Kato, S., Endoh, H., Masuhiro, Y., Kitamoto, T., Uchiyama, S., Sasaki, H., Masushige, S., Gotoh, Y., Nishida, E., Kawashima, H., et al. Activation of the estrogen receptor through phosphorylation by mitogen-activated protein kinase. Science (Wash. DC), 270: 1491-1494, 1995.
17. Ellis, M. J., Coop, A., Singh, B., Mauriac, L., Llombert-Cussac, A., Janicke, F., Miller, W. R., Evans, D. B., Dugan, M., Brady, C., Quebe-Fehling, E., and Borgs, M. Letrozole is more effective neoadjuvant endocrine therapy than tamoxifen for ErbB-1- and/or ErbB-2-positive, estrogen receptor-positive primary breast cancer: evidence from a phase III randomized trial. J. Clin. Oncol., 19: 3808-3816, 2001.
18. Nicholson, R. I., Hutcheson, I. R., Harper, M. E., Knowlden, J. M., Barrow, D., McClelland, R. A., Jones, H. E., Wakeling, A. E., and Gee, J. M. Modulation of epidermal growth factor receptor in endocrine-resistant, oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Endocr. Relat. Cancer, 8: 175-182, 2001.
19. Geisler, J., Detre, S., Berntsen, H., Ottestad, L., Lindtjorn, B., Dowsett, M., and Lonning, P. E. Influence of neoadjuvant anastrozole (arimidex) on intratumoral estrogen levels and proliferation markers in patients with locally advanced breast cancer. Clin. Cancer Res., 7: 1230-1236, 2001.
20. Miller, W. R., Iqbal, S., Dixon, J. M., and Anderson, T. J. Changes in tumor prolifeation following neoadjuvant tamoxifen treatment may predate response and predict for relapse (Abstract 231). Breast Cancer Res. Treat., 76: S67, 2002.
21. Harper-Wynne, C., Sacks, N., Shenton, K., MacNeil, F., Sauven, P., Laidlaw, I., Rayter, Z., Maill, S., Howes, A., Salter, J., Hills, M. J., Lowe, F. M., A'Hern, R., Nasiri, N., Doody, D., Iqbal, J., and Dowsett, M. Comparison of the systemic and intratumoral effects of tamoxifen and the aromatase inhibitor vorozole in postmenopausal patients with primary breast cancer. J. Clin. Oncol., 20: 1026-1035, 2002.
22. Dowsett, M., Harper-Wynne, C., Boeddinghaus, I., Salter, J., Hills, M., Dixon, M., Ebbs, S., Gui, G., Sacks, N., and Smith, I. HER-2 amplification impedes the antiproliferative effects of hormone therapy in estrogen receptor-positive primary breast cancer. Cancer Res., 61: 8452-8458, 2001.
23. Kastner, P., Krust, A., Turcotte, B., Stropp, U., Tora, L., Gronemeyer, H., and Chambon, P. Two distinct estrogen-regulated promoters generate transcripts encoding the two functionally different human progesterone receptor forms A and B. EMBO J., 9: 1603-1614, 1990.
24. Lu, D., Kiriyama, Y., Lee, K. Y., and Giguere, V. Transcriptional regulation of the estrogen-inducible pS2 breast cancer marker gene by the ERR family of orphan nuclear receptors. Cancer Res., 61: 6755-6761, 2001.
25. Brown, A. M., Jeltsch, J. M., Roberts, M., and Chambon, P. Activation of pS2 gene transcription is a primary response to estrogen in the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 81: 6344-6348, 1984.
26. McDonnell, D. P., and Norris, J. D. Connections and regulation of the human estrogen receptor. Science (Wash. DC), 296: 1642-1644, 2002.
27. Esteban, J. M., Ahn, C., Battifora, H., and Felder, B. Quantitative immunohistochemical assay for hormonal receptors: technical aspects and biological significance. J. Cell Biochem. Suppl., 19: 138-145, 1994.
28. Allred, D. C., Harvey, J. M., Berardo, M., and Clark, G. M. Prognostic and predictive factors in breast cancer by immunohistochemical analysis. Mod. Pathol., 11: 155-168, 1998.
29. Jacobs, T. W., Gown, A. M., Yaziji, H., Barnes, M. J., and Schnitt, S. J. Specificity of HercepTest in determining HER-2/neu status of breast cancers using the United States Food and Drug Administration-approved scoring system. J. Clin. Oncol., 17: 1983-1987, 1999.
30. Press, M. F., Slamon, D. J., Flom, K. J., Park, J., Zhou, J. Y., and Bernstein, L. Evaluation of HER-2/neu gene amplification and overexpression: comparison of frequently used assay methods in a molecularly characterized cohort of breast cancer specimens. J. Clin. Oncol., 20: 3095-3105, 2002.
31. Vickers, A. J., and Altman, D. G. Statistics notes: analysing controlled trials with baseline and follow up measurements. BMJ, 323: 1123-1124, 2001.
32. Konecny, G., Pauletti, G., Pegram, M., Untch, M., Dandekar, S., Aguilar, Z., Wilson, C., Rong, H. M., Bauerfeind, I., Felber, M., Wang, H. J., Beryt, M., Seshadri, R., Hepp, H., and Slamon, D. J. Quantitative association between HER-2/neu and steroid hormone receptors in hormone receptor-positive primary breast cancer. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. (Bethesda), 95: 142-153, 2003.
33. Miller, W. R., Dixon, J. M., Macfarlane, L., Cameron, D., and Anderson, T. J. Pathological features of breast cancer response following neoadjuvant treatment with either letrozole or tamoxifen. Eur. J. Cancer, 39: 462-468, 2003.
34. Oh, A. S., Lorant, L. A., Holloway, J. N., Miller, D. L., Kern, F. G., and El-Ashry, D. Hyperactivation of MAPK induces loss of ERalpha expression in breast cancer cells. Mol. Endocrinol., 15: 1344-1359, 2001.
35. Paech, K., Webb, P., Kuiper, G. G., Nilsson, S., Gustafsson, J., Kushner, P. J., and Scanlan, T. S. Differential ligand activation of estrogen receptors ERalpha and ERbeta at AP1 sites. Science (Wash. DC), 277: 1508-1510, 1997.
36. Cariou, S., Donovan, J. C., Flanagan, W. M., Milic, A., Bhattacharya, N., and Slingerland, J. M. Down-regulation of p21WAF1/CIP1 or p27Kip1 abrogates antiestrogen-mediated cell cycle arrest in human breast cancer cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 97: 9042-9046, 2000.
37. Dowsett, M., Bundred, N. J., Decensi, A., Sainsbury, R. C., Lu, Y., Hills, M. J., Cohen, F. J., Veronesi, P., O'Brien, M. E., Scott, T., and Muchmore, D. B. Effect of raloxifene on breast cancer cell Ki67 and apoptosis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial in postmenopausal patients. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomark. Prev., 10: 961-966, 2001.
38. Schiff, R., Massarweh, S., Shou, J., and Osborne, C. K. Breast cancer endocrine resistance: how growth factor signaling and estrogen receptor coregulators modulate response. Clin. Cancer Res., 9: 447S-454S, 2003.
39. Pietras, R. J., Arboleda, J., Reese, D. M., Wongvipat, N., Pegram, M. D., Ramos, L., Gorman, C. M., Parker, M. G., Sliwkowski, M. X., and Slamon, D. J. HER-2 tyrosine kinase pathway targets estrogen receptor and promotes hormone-independent growth in human breast cancer cells. Oncogene, 10: 2435-2446, 1995.
40. Liu, Y., el-Ashry, D., Chen, D., Ding, I. Y., and Kern, F. G. MCF-7 breast cancer cells overexpressing transfected c-erbB-2 have an in vitro growth advantage in estrogen-depleted conditions and reduced estrogen-dependence and tamoxifen-sensitivity in vivo. Breast Cancer Res. Treat, 34: 97-117, 1995.
41. Johnston, S. R., Saccani-Jotti, G., Smith, L. E., Salter, J., Newby, J., Coppen, M., Ebbs, S. R., and Dowsett, M. Changes in estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and pS2 expression in tamoxifen-resistant human breast cancer. Cancer Res., 55: 3331-3338, 1995.
42. Dennis, A. P., Haq, R. U., and Nawaz, Z. Importance of the regulation of nuclear receptor degradation. Front. Biosci., 6: D954-D959, 2001.
43. Saceda, M., Lippman, M. E., Chambon, P., Lindsey, R. L., Ponglikitmongkol, M., Puente, M., and Martin, M. B. Regulation of the estrogen receptor in MCF-7 cells by estradiol. Mol. Endocrinol., 2: 1157-1162, 1988.
44. Donovan, J. C., Milic, A., and Slingerland, J. M. Constitutive MEK/MAPK activation leads to p27(Kip1) deregulation and antiestrogen resistance in human breast cancer cells. J. Biol. Chem., 276: 40888-40895, 2001.
45. Bindels, E. M., Lallemand, F., Balkenende, A., Verwoerd, D., and Michalides, R. Involvement of G1/S cyclins in estrogen-independent proliferation of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells. Oncogene, 21: 8158-8165, 2002.
46. Hui, R., Finney, G. L., Carroll, J. S., Lee, C. S., Musgrove, E. A., and Sutherland, R. L. Constitutive overexpression of cyclin D1 but not cyclin E confers acute resistance to antiestrogens in T-47D breast cancer cells. Cancer Res., 62: 6916-6923, 2002.
47. Wilcken, N. R., Prall, O. W., Musgrove, E. A., and Sutherland, R. L. Inducible overexpression of cyclin D1 in breast cancer cells reverses the growth-inhibitory effects of antiestrogens. Clin. Cancer Res., 3: 849-854, 1997.
48. Reiner, G. C., and Katzenellenbogen, B. S. Characterization of estrogen and progesterone receptors and the dissociated regulation of growth and progesterone receptor stimulation by estrogen in MDA-MB-134 human breast cancer cells. Cancer Res., 46: 1124-1131, 1986.