What are the current treatment options for women with advanced breast cancer?
Advanced breast cancer can be treated with systemic therapies which can destroy, or control the growth and spread of, the cancer cells. Systemic treatments consist of: chemotherapies; hormonal/endocrine therapies; and targeted therapies. These can be used alone or in combination depending on various factors (e.g. the size and extent of the cancer, whether or not the patient has had the menopause, whether the cancer has certain receptors). Chemotherapy agents destroy cancer cells by disrupting their growth. They cannot differentiate between normal and cancerous cells and often cause side effects. Hormonal / endocrine therapies interfere with the production of or block the action of oestrogen and usually form the mainstay of treatment in patients with hormone-receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer. Targeted therapies are designed to target specific receptors or processes involved in the formation of cancer. Unlike chemotherapy, targeted therapies aim to attack cancer cells without damagin
