Lois Shepherd recently presented a study that found patients with breast cancer who received treatment with an aromatase inhibitor and who were also being treated with a medication for osteoporosis experienced a reduced recurrence of breast cancer.

Good bone health may also be a step towards preventing recurrence of breast cancer, according to results from an exploratory study led by the NCIC Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG) located at Queen’s University.

The study, a companion to an earlier large clinical trial, found that patients with breast cancer who received treatment with an aromatase inhibitor (AI) and who were also being treated with a medication for osteoporosis experienced a reduced recurrence of breast cancer. AIs are used by thousands of women to prevent recurrence of breast cancer, but are known to produce or accelerate osteoporosis.

“Results of the study suggest that preventing this deterioration in bone health by using commonly-used therapeutics known as bisphosphonates may have an additional positive effect in decreasing the risk of breast cancer recurrence”, says Lois Shepherd, Professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University, physician coordinator at the NCIC Clinical Trials Group and a pathologist at Kingston General Hospital.

The results of the trial are of interest to clinical oncologists caring for postmenopausal women emphasizing that maintaining good bone health is an important aspect of their overall care.

These results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. The study utilized a database of over 7,000.

Read more about NCIC CTG clinical trials being presented at the ASCO annual meeting.

The NCIC CTG is a cancer clinical trials cooperative group that conducts trials testing anti-cancer and supportive therapies across Canada and internationally. It is a national research program of the Canadian Cancer Society. The NCIC CTG’s Central Office is located at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.