My Aching Joints - News on the Research Front

Mayo Collaboration Finds Source Of Breast Drug Side Effect!

WOW!  It's so exciting to learn that results are coming out of the research being done into the horrible joint pain and stiffness experienced by many women taking aromatase inhibitors such as Arimidex.

From the article:

Mayo Clinic researchers and their international colleagues have discovered genetic variants that lead to severe arthritis for a subset of women when taking aromatase inhibitors to treat their breast cancer. This serious side effect is so painful that many women halt their lifesaving medication. 

 "Many women stop taking aromatase inhibitors due to the accompanying joint pain," says James Ingle, M.D., Mayo Clinic oncologist and senior author of the study. "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."

The results [from the study] provide researchers with genetic markers for the aromatase inhibitor-induced arthritis and clues to find ways to treat it.

If they can find a way to prevent this awful side effect, I would be glad to be able to take Arimidex again, it having an improved success rate (for post-menopausal women) over Tamoxifen.  I find some of the possible side effects of Tamoxifen (aside from the hot flashes, weight gain, thinning hair, and joint pain) kind of scary ... serious side effects of Tamoxifen are blood clots, strokes, uterine cancer, and cataracts.  Comparatively, Arimidex side effects seem less serious even though I can not endure the effect it has on my bones, joints, tendons and muscles.

This research looks promising, though.  One step closer.