Antihormone therapy

Antihormone therapy is a type of hormone therapy that suppresses selected hormones or their effects, in contrast with hormone replacement therapy, which encourages hormone activity.

The suppression of certain hormones can benefit patients with certain cancers because certain hormones prompt or help the growth of a tumor. This is especially true in cancers relating to the sex organs. Antihormone treatment is thus often specific to sex. For example, androgen deprivation therapy using antiandrogens is important in treating prostate cancer. Breast cancer, which occurs in both women and men but whose disease burden falls mostly on women, also can be treated with estrogen deprivation therapy using antiestrogens.

Hormones are made by glands and circulated through the bloodstream. Hormones may act as a signal to cells to grow by attaching to them. Antihormone therapy blocks hormones from sending these messages to cells. If a diagnostic test shows cancer in places with hormones attached, drugs may be prescribed to the patient to block the receptors and inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Most antihormone therapies are administered by pill for 5 to 10 years after surgery.