The hormonal therapy of breast cancer

Breast cancer will be diagnosed in 12% of women in well-developed countries over the course of their lifetimes. This review focus on current approaches and strategies of systemic endocrine therapy of breast cancer. Breast cancer can be divided into three main subgroups based on the presence and absence of molecular markers (ER, PR, HER2 receptors). For patients without metastases the therapeutic goals are preventing the locoregional and distant recurrence. The length of adjuvant hormonal treatment is an important question in the everyday oncological practice. For patients with metastatic breast cancer the goal of the therapy is prolonging life, keep quality of life and palliating cancer symptoms. Patients with hormone receptor positive (HR+) tumours receive endocrine therapy, in monotherapy or in combination. As the result of new therapeutic approaches and of international drug development, HR+ breast cancer patients have more and more therapeutic options in case of early breast cancer as well as in metastatic settings.