Do Not Forget about Hormonal Therapy for Recurrent Endometrial Cancer: A Review of Options, Updates, and New Combinations

Cancers (Basel). 2023 Mar 16;15(6):1799. doi: 10.3390/cancers15061799.

Abstract

Hormonal therapy has long been a treatment modality for recurrent endometrial cancer. It is appealing for patients with low-grade, slow-growing tumors or in patients for which other treatment types may be too toxic. Hormonal therapy is well tolerated and has response rates ranging from 9 to 33%. Hormonal treatment options take advantage of the estrogen-dependent molecular pathways in endometrial cancers. Current options for hormonal therapies include progesterone therapy (medroxyprogesterone acetate and megestrol acetate) as a single agent or in combination and agents that target the estrogen pathway. Aromatase inhibitors have had modest single-agent activity, but synergistic effects have been found when used in combination with targeted therapy including mTOR inhibitors and cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors. Molecular profiling of endometrial cancers has begun to help individualize treatments. This review will report on existing data and ongoing trials investigating novel hormonal therapy agents.

Keywords: CDK4/6 inhibitor; SERM; aromatase inhibitors; hormonal therapy; mTOR inhibitor; progesterone; recurrent endometrial cancer; targeted therapy.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.