[Interrelationship between response to neoadjuvant hormone therapy and hormonal-metabolic status in breast cancer patients].

Twenty seven breast cancer patients with receptor-positive tumors stage IIb-IIIa (TNM) were treated with an aromatase inhibitor--letrozole, 2.5 mg/day, or an antiestrogen--tamoxifen, 20 mg/day, 4 months before surgery. Complete or partial response (CP + PR) was recorded in patients older than those with stabilization or progression of the disease. Moreover, the former group tended to show higher of suppression of blood-estradiol and progesterone receptors levels in tumor and lower suppression of serum-FSH concentration after treatment. These, practically, first findings of the kind suggest that the search for hormonal markers to predict the efficiency of neoadjuvant hormonal therapy for breast cancer should be continued.