US Pharm. 2010;35(11)(Oncology suppl):17.

Mayo Clinic researchers and colleagues discovered genetic variants that lead to severe arthritis for a subset of women when taking aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer, a side effect so painful that many women halt their lifesaving treatment. The discovery was reported online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"We used the latest genetic technology in a very large group of women and discovered totally new clues to the cause of the main reason women stop this potentially lifesaving drug. Our findings open the door to finding ways to identify women who will develop these side effects and treat those who do, thus allowing more women to take this therapy and decrease their chances of breast cancer recurrence," said James Ingle, MD, Mayo Clinic oncologist and senior author of the study. Aromatase inhibitors are most often used as adjuvant therapy for postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer.