Endocrine therapy for hormone treatment-naïve advanced breast cancer

Abstract

A proportion of patients with hormone receptor-positive locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer will not have received prior endocrine therapy. However, there are limited clinical data specifically in these patients. We conducted a review of randomized phase II and III clinical studies of anastrozole, letrozole, exemestane, palbociclib, and fulvestrant to determine the evidence base supporting use of specific endocrine therapies in this patient population. From our findings, there is a paucity of clinical studies in patients with endocrine therapy-naïve disease; however, it appears that first-line treatment effects are consistent between patients who have and have not received prior endocrine treatment.

Keywords: Advanced breast cancer; Endocrine therapy; Endocrine therapy-naïve; Metastatic breast cancer.