Copenhagen: Many breast cancer survivors take hormonal drugs after cancer treatment to prevent the cancer from coming back, but new research suggests these drugs may be less effective in obese women.
In hormone-positive breast cancer, cancer cells are stimulated by the female sex hormone estrogen. Aromatase inhibitor drugs reduce estrogen levels by blocking an enzyme called aromatase that converts other hormones into estrogen.
The study found that cancer survivors who were overweight were more likely to have cancer recurrence despite taking aromatase inhibitors than women who were underweight.
“Postmenopausal women with positive breast cancer and obesity who are being treated with aromatase inhibitors are more likely to have an increased risk of breast cancer,” said study author Siksten Harberg, a researcher at the Department of Oncology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. The risk of contracting the disease increases.
