Challenges in Adjuvant Therapy for Premenopausal Women Diagnosed With Luminal Breast Cancers

Abstract

More than 90% of women with newly diagnosed breast cancer present with stage I to III disease and, with optimal multidisciplinary therapy, are likely to survive their disease. Of these patients, 70% are hormone receptor–positive and candidates for adjuvant endocrine therapy. The adoption of cumulatively better adjuvant treatments contributed to improved outcomes in patients with hormone receptor–positive, early-stage breast cancer. Premenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer often present with complex disease and have inferior survival outcomes compared with their postmenopausal counterparts. Risk stratification strategies, including classic clinicopathologic features and newer gene expression assays, can assist in treatment decisions, including adjuvant chemotherapy use and type or duration of endocrine therapy. Gene expression assays may help identify patients who can safely forgo chemotherapy, although to a lesser extent among premenopausal patients, in whom they may play a role only in node-negative disease. Patients at lower risk of recurrence can be adequately treated with tamoxifen alone, whereas higher-risk patients benefit from ovarian function suppression with tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor. The role of adding newer therapies such as CDK4/6 inhibitors to adjuvant endocrine therapy is not yet clear. Breast cancer treatments are associated with several side effects, with major impact on patients’ quality of life and treatment adherence, particularly in premenopausal women for whom these side effects may be more prominent as the result of the abrupt decrease in estrogen concentrations. Personalized management of treatment side effects, addressing patients' concerns, and health promotion should be an integral part of the care of premenopausal women diagnosed with luminal breast cancers.