THURSDAY, Aug. 14, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Daily use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce the recurrence rate of hormone-responsive breast cancer in overweight or obese women, according to research published in the Aug. 15 issue of Cancer Research.
Laura W. Bowers, of the University of Texas at Austin, and colleagues retrospectively reviewed data for patients with an average body mass index greater than 30 kg/m², who had estrogen receptor α (ERα)-positive breast cancer, to assess the effect of daily NSAID use on the rate of recurrence. The researchers also conducted in-vitro studies to explore the possible mechanism of this effect.
The researchers found that patients who used NSAIDs had a 52 percent lower recurrence rate and a 28-month delay in time to recurrence of ERα-positive breast cancer. In-vitro studies showed that exposure to sera from obese patients stimulated greater macrophage cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and prostaglandin E2 production, which correlated with enhanced preadipocyte aromatase expression following incubation in conditioned media (CM) collected from sera-exposed macrophages in the obese patient. This effect was neutralized by COX-2 inhibition with celecoxib. In addition, CM from macrophage/preadipocyte co-cultures exposed to sera from obese patients, compared with sera from normal-weight patients, stimulated greater breast cancer cell ERα activity, proliferation, and migration. These differences were reduced or eliminated by the addition of an aromatase inhibitor during generation of the CM.
"Prospective studies designed to examine the clinical benefit of NSAID use in obese patients with breast cancer are warranted," the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to Genentech.
Abstract
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