Abstract
The mainstay of endocrine therapy in breast cancer has been to deprive breast cancer cells of oestrogen. Traditionally done by surgical means, for post-menopausal women the treatment is now much simpler with the advent of highly specific and effective aromatase inhibitors. This chapter will summarise the history of endocrine deprivation therapy in post-menopausal women with breast cancer, and outline where these drugs are used today, what is known about their efficacy and potential causes of resistance. It will set the scene for the rest of the book and draw lessons from history to interpret contemporary clinical practices and research questions.
Keywords
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- AIs:
-
Aromatase inhibitors
- ER:
-
Oestrogen receptor
- PgR:
-
Progesterone receptor
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Cameron, D. (2015). Clinical Use of Aromatase Inhibitors in Breast Cancer: History and Present. In: Larionov, A. (eds) Resistance to Aromatase Inhibitors in Breast Cancer. Resistance to Targeted Anti-Cancer Therapeutics, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17972-8_1
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