Hormone therapy for cancer

Certain cancers rely on hormones to grow. In these cases, hormone therapy may slow or stop their spread by blocking the body’s ability to produce these particular hormones or changing how hormone receptors behave in the body.

Breast and prostate cancers are the two types most commonly treated with hormone therapy. Most breast cancers have either estrogen (ER) or progesterone (PR) receptors, or both, which means they need these hormones to grow and spread. By contrast, prostate cancer needs testosterone and other male sex hormones, such as dihydrotestosterone (DHT), to grow and spread. Hormone therapy may help make these hormones less available to growing cancer cells.

Hormone therapy is available via pills, injection or surgery that removes hormone-producing organs, namely the ovaries in women and the testicles in men. It’s typically recommended along with other cancer treatments.

If you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, endometrial cancer or prostate cancer, we may recommend hormone therapy as part of your treatment plan.

Types of hormone therapy for breast cancer

Aromatase inhibitors

Aromatase inhibitors—such as anastrozole (Arimidex®), letrozole (Femara®) and exemestane (Aromasin®)—work by inactivating aromatase, which your body uses to make estrogen in the ovaries and other tissues.

Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs)

Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs)—including tamoxifen (Nolvadex®), raloxifene (Evista®) and toremifene (Fareston®)—selectively block estrogen from certain tissues, namely the breast, while increasing its availability in other areas such as the bones.

Fulvestrant (Faslodex)

Fulvestrat binds to estrogen receptors, completely stopping the hormone from attaching to the receptors.

Types of hormone therapy for prostate cancer

Hormone therapy may be part of prostate cancer treatment if the cancer has spread and can’t be cured by surgery or radiation therapy—or if the patient isn’t a candidate for these other types of treatment. It may also be recommended if cancer remains or returns after surgery or radiation therapy, or to shrink the cancer before radiation therapy.

Additionally, hormone therapy may be combined with radiation therapy initially if there’s a high risk of cancer recurrence. It can also be given before radiation therapy to shrink the cancer and make other treatments more effective. Other types of hormone therapy for prostate cancer include:

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT)

This type of therapy includes LHRH agonists, also called LHRH analogs or GnRH agonists, such as Leuprolide (Lupron®, Eligard®), Goserelin (Zoladex®), Triptorelin (Trelstar®) or Histrelin (Vantas®).

Androgen blockers

Hormonal therapy for endometrial cancer

Cancer of the uterus or its lining, the endometrium, may respond to hormone therapy with progestins. Other types of hormone therapy for endometrial cancer include: