The potential for aromatase inhibition in breast cancer prevention

Although SERMs are currently being evaluated and are approved for breast cancer prevention in several countries, aromatase inhibitors and inactivators may represent interesting options in this setting. The encouraging results revealing these drugs to be superior to conventional therapy in metastatic breast cancer confirm their therapy efficacy and suggest that they may also have a role in adjuvant therapy and even for breast cancer prevention. Secondly, whereas the bulk of "high-risk" breast cancer patients with confirmed founder mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes develop their cancers earlier in life (during the premenopausal period), 75-80% of all breast cancers, in general, develop in postmenopausal women. Thus, in considering prevention of breast cancer in moderate-risk groups, strategies for prevention in postmenopausal women may play an important role. Also, among high-risk patients who have not developed breast cancer by the time of the menopause, aromatase inhibition could be a feasible option. Considering the potential hazards of long-term use of SERMs, switching to an aromatase inhibitor or inactivator in this setting may be beneficial. Finally, the observation that postmenopausal estrogen levels are related to subsequent risk of breast cancer in the general population underlines the potential for estrogen suppression as a preventive strategy. Results from ongoing studies examining the toxicity of aromatase inhibitors and inactivators in postmenopausal women will set the stage for future trials that explore them as preventive treatment options.