Intermittent Letrozole Therapy in Postmenopausal Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2013-09-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The purpose of this research study is to study the effects of using aromatase inhibitor (AI)
therapy intermittently on participants with breast cancer. AIs are a class of drugs used to
treat breast cancer in postmenopausal women. They work by decreasing the level of estrogen,
which is believed to stimulate the growth of tumor tissue. Breast cancer that progresses
despite therapy with an AI is thought to have become resistant to AI therapy. There is
scientific evidence to suggest that resistant breast cancer cells learn to grow at the very
low levels of estrogen present on AI therapy, and that increasing estrogen levels even
slightly by stopping AI therapy may inhibit the breast cancer cells.