AZ Cancer Center to be part of prevention study

The Arizona Cancer Center is seeking participants for an international breast cancer prevention study.

Participants will receive daily doses of either Tamoxifen or Raloxifene for the next five years. Doctors believe both drugs could significantly reduce the chances of developing breast cancer.

Researchers will study the incidence of cancer as well as side effects from the medication, said center spokeswoman Laurie Young.

A total of 22,000 women will participate at about 400 centers in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico. More than 300 Tucsonans have already signed up, she said.

The National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, a private organization of cancer researchers, is conducting the comparison of the drugs.

Eli Lilly and Company, which sells Raloxifene, has provided $36 million. The National Cancer Institute, part of the government's National Institute of Health, is overseeing the project.

The University Medical Center's Arizona Cancer Center is the only facility working on the study in Tucson. Three sites in Phoenix will also be participating, Young said.

An earlier trial of Tamoxifen conducted on more than 13,000 women showed that those who took the drug cut their chances of developing tumors nearly in half, according to documents from the National Cancer Institute.

But the same study showed that those who took the drug had an increased chance of strokes, blood clots in the lungs, large veins and cancer of the uterus.

The results of the study were published in the Sept. 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

A month later, the Food and Drug Administration approved use of the drug for women who have an increased risk of breast cancer.

Raloxifene is used for preventing osteoporosis. Because it works in a similar way to Tamoxifen, researchers hope that it can also be used to prevent breast cancer, said Angela Sekston, a spokeswoman for Eli Lilly.

Users of the drug have an increase in hot flashes. Blood clots have also been reported, she said.

"It's a serious complication, but very rare," Sekston said.

Sharron Carpenter, an administrative associate at the Arizona Cancer Center, said she is willing to take her chances.

She considers herself at risk for breast cancer because her mother was diagnosed with the disease.

Her mother's cancer is gone, and after six years of taking Tamoxifen, she remains disease free, Carpenter said.

The only side effect her mother experienced was hot flashes, she said.

Both women were smokers, but Sharron Carpenter quit nine years ago for her health, she said.

Sharron Carpenter is especially interested in trying Raloxifene, which she calls "the kinder, gentler Tamoxifen."

"It just looks promising to me," she said.