A gel containing the drug tamoxifen and applied to the skin was as effective in reducing the growth of breast cancer cells in women with noninvasive cancer as the pill form of the medication — and it caused fewer side effects, according to a new study.
The paper, published today in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, said that the gel was applied to the breasts of women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS. All the women had DCIS that was sensitive to estrogen.
After six to 10 weeks of gel application, the reduction in a marker for cancer cell growth in the breast tissue was similar to that of the orally administered tamoxifen, the study found.
The findings could have broad implications, the researchers said. The gel, like the pill form of the drug, could be used to reduce the risk of a recurrence of breast cancer or to try to prevent the disease in the first place.
But it might be used more widely because it causes fewer side effects, said Seema Khan, a surgical oncologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and the lead author of the study.
