A Review of the Prevention of Invasive Breast Cancer with Raloxifene in Postmenopausal Women

Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of malignancy-related death in women in the United States, regardless of advances in novel therapeutic agents. High priority should be emphasized in research aimed at the study of pharmacological and natural compounds that may potentially prevent the development of breast cancer in susceptible patients. Among the known selective estrogen receptor modulators with proven chemopreventive effects, raloxifene has been studied in a number of clinical trials evaluating this drug for the prevention of osteoporosis and coronary heart disease. The MORE and CORE trials had as a primary end point the efficacy of raloxifene in the treatment of women with osteoporosis. These studies showed that raloxifene reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women. However, the STAR trial showed no significant difference between raloxifene and tamoxifen recipients in the incidence of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women at high risk of invasive breast cancer. This review focuses on the chemopreventive properties of raloxifene and the clinical trials that have proven its efficacy as a chemopreventive agent in invasive breast cancer.