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Raloxifene May Help Prevent Endometrial Cancer: Presented at ASCO

By Charlene Laino

ORLANDO, FL -- May 18, 2005 -- A population-based, case-control study shows that raloxifene may protect against the development of endometrial cancer, according to Angela DeMichele, MD, associate professor of medicine, Abramson Cancer Centre, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Reporting here on May 16^th at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (ASCO), Dr. DeMichele said that women who took raloxifene "had about half the risk of endometrial cancer than those not using the drug. Women who took tamoxifen, on the other hand, were about 50% more likely to develop the disease than nonusers," she said.

Overall, "users of tamoxifen were about 3 times more likely to develop endometrial cancer than users of raloxifene," Dr. DeMichele said.

The study, actually designed to look at genetic susceptibility to endometrial cancer, included 521 cases and 1408 women without the disease. Ninety-one percent of the women were white and the rest were African American.

Among women with endometrial cancer, 3.3% had used raloxifene at some time during their lives and 6.2% used tamoxifen at some time, while among controls, 6.6% and 2.2% used raloxifene and tamoxifen some time during their lives, respectively.

After adjusting for confounders, including body-mass index and history of breast cancer, the odds ratio (OR) of raloxifene users developing endometrial cancer was 0.50 (95% CI.29-.85).

The study also showed that 6.3% of the women who developed cancer had taken tamoxifen, compared with 2.4% of controls, she said.

After adjusting for other confounders, the OR for tamoxifen users of developing endometrial cancer compared with nonusers was 1.5 (95% CI.77-2.92).

Dr. DeMichele said that it was somewhat surprisingly that "the protective effect of raloxifene was most promising in women who took it for less than 3 years." Women who reported taking raloxifene for fewer than 3 years had a 59% reduced risk of endometrial cancer, which was highly significant, Dr. DeMichele said.

"These data suggest a possible protective effect of raloxifene on the endometrium," a potential benefit that should be explored further, she said.


[Presentation title: Effect of Raloxifene on Endometrial Cancer Risk in a Population-Based, Case-Control Study. Abstract 5001]

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