Osteoporosis Breast Cancer Could Help Relieve Breast Cancer Symptoms

Recent findings published in the journal Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) show that an osteoporosis drug could help to relieve breast cancer symptoms.

Scientists have recently discovered that the medication could help to reduce the risk of bone complications in breast cancer patients, from the common osteoporosis medication known as bisphosphonate.

For the study, researchers examined data on more than 21,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer, showing that taking oral bisphosphonates before or after diagnosis of cancer significantly reduced the risk of bone metastasis in women with early stage breast cancer. Furthermore, women with later stage breast cancer were significantly less likely to suffer bone metastasis if they took the osteoporosis drug after diagnosis.

"Skeletal metastases develop in up to 70 percent of women who die from breast cancer," said co-researcher Dr. Richard Kremer, director of the Bone and Mineral Unit at the MUHC and a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, in a news release. "This causes considerable suffering and is life-threatening. Preventing this could translate into saving a significant number of lives."

"Our study is novel in that it mainly involved women who were post-menopausal and in whom bone-turnover is high due to osteoporosis," concluded Dr. Richard Kremer. "We believe that this process results in an environment that is favorable for tumor cell growth and consequent metastasis. We know that bisphosphonates work by slowing down this bone-turnover. This will, in turn, make it harder for tumor cells to establish in the bone and may explain why we saw such a decline in metastasis."