The effect of raloxifene on telomerase expression in breast carcinoma samples from postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the effect of raloxifene on the expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) in invasive ductal breast carcinoma of postmenopausal women. STUDY DESIGN: This study included 20 postmenopausal women with invasive, stage II, estrogen receptor-positive ductal carcinoma diagnosed by incisional biopsy, who received 60 mg of raloxifene orally for 28 days prior to definitive surgery. On the 29th day of treatment, definitive surgery was performed and a second tumor sample was taken for analysis. The catalytic subunit of telomerase (hTERT) was evaluated semiquantitatively by immunohistochemistry in the tumor samples obtained prior to and following raloxifene use and the results were analyzed using the McNemar test (p<0.05). RESULTS: The samples of 17 patients (85%) were classified as positive for telomerase expression prior to raloxifene treatment, while only 6 (30%) remained positive following raloxifene treatment (p<0.0026). CONCLUSION: In the present study, raloxifene significantly reduced the expression of hTERT in estrogen receptor-positive breast tumors from postmenopausal women.