Celecoxib
Shows Surprising Activity Against Estrogen Receptors
Behind the Cancer Headlines®
Six months of treatment with celecoxib (Celebrex) in women at
risk of developing breast cancer results in the reduction of estrogen receptor
expression in breast cells, a research team at The University of Texas M. D.
Anderson Cancer Center has found.
The surprising insight - that celecoxib may regulate a cell's use of estrogen - could
help explain the drug's observed anticancer properties, says the study's lead
author, Banu Arun, M.D.,
associate professor in the Department of Breast Medical Oncology.
"Since estrogen receptor
expression is a marker of proliferation, this finding confirms celecoxib's antiproliferative
properties," she says. "This is a preliminary, but exciting, finding
that has not been reported in clinical chemoprevention studies before."
To date, the study has enrolled 40
women at high risk of developing breast cancer. Each woman agreed to undergo a
fine needle aspiration and ductal lavage
to remove breast epithelium cells both before and after six months of celecoxib treatment. These samples were available for
analysis in 26 high-risk women. The researchers assessed the difference in
estrogen receptor levels before and after treatment.
They found that the average pre-
and post-treatment estrogen receptor expression was 30.8 percent and 21.8
percent, respectively, which is a statistically significant difference. Arun says they are continuing to examine the impact of celecoxib on other cancer risk markers in breast cells,
such as EGFR, HER2, Ki-67 and Bcl-2.
SOURCES:
University of