# Hormone therapy

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/hormone-therapy/  
OnCo record `hormone-therapy` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Treatment that starves cancers which grow in response to a hormone, mainly oestrogen in breast cancer and testosterone in prostate cancer, by lowering the hormone or blocking its receptor.

## Summary

About 70% of breast cancers carry the oestrogen receptor and most prostate cancers depend on the androgen receptor; drugs either stop the hormone being made (aromatase inhibitors, GnRH analogues, abiraterone) or block the receptor (tamoxifen, fulvestrant, enzalutamide), and newer agents degrade the receptor outright (elacestrant, vepdegestrant). Hormone therapy is given as tablets or injections for years, has fewer acute side effects than chemotherapy, and prevents many recurrences; its limits are resistance, when the tumour mutates the receptor or bypasses it (hence combining with CDK4/6, PI3K or AKT inhibitors), and long-term effects on bone, mood, and sexual function. 'Castration-resistant' prostate cancer is disease that keeps growing despite testosterone suppression.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: hormone therapies; hormonal therapy; hormonal therapies; endocrine therapy; endocrine therapies; anti-hormone; antihormonal; hormone-sensitive; hormone sensitive; hormone-driven; hormone receptor; hormone receptors; hormone-receptor positive; hormone receptor positive; hormone-receptor-positive; HR-positive; HR+; castration; castration-resistant; castration-sensitive

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormonal_therapy_(oncology)
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormonal_therapy_(oncology)

## Connected records

- terms: [Agonist and antagonist](https://onco.cc/terms/agonist-antagonist/), [Drug resistance (primary and acquired)](https://onco.cc/terms/resistance/), [Endocrine therapy and endocrine resistance](https://onco.cc/terms/endocrine-therapy-resistance/), [Maintenance therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/maintenance-therapy/), [Receptor](https://onco.cc/terms/receptor/), [Targeted therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/targeted-therapy-term/), [Watchful waiting, and how it differs from active surveillance](https://onco.cc/terms/watchful-waiting/), [What androgen deprivation costs: the side of hormone therapy the survival curves do not show](https://onco.cc/terms/prostate-adt-burden/)
- cancers: [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- technologies: [Androgen deprivation & AR pathway inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/androgen-deprivation/), [CDK4/6 inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/cdk46-inhibitor/), [Endocrine therapy (SERMs, AIs, SERDs)](https://onco.cc/technologies/endocrine-therapy/)
- targets: [Androgen receptor](https://onco.cc/targets/androgen-receptor/), [CDK4/6](https://onco.cc/targets/cdk4-6/), [Estrogen receptor (ERα)](https://onco.cc/targets/estrogen-receptor/)
- drugs: [Elacestrant](https://onco.cc/drugs/elacestrant/), [Palbociclib](https://onco.cc/drugs/palbociclib/), [Vepdegestrant](https://onco.cc/drugs/vepdegestrant/)
- pathways: [Androgen receptor signalling](https://onco.cc/pathways/ar-signaling/), [Oestrogen receptor signalling](https://onco.cc/pathways/er-signaling/)
- trials: [DART 01/05 GICOR](https://onco.cc/trials/dart-01-05-gicor/), [EORTC 22863](https://onco.cc/trials/eortc-22863/), [EORTC 22961](https://onco.cc/trials/eortc-22961/), [GETUG-AFU 15](https://onco.cc/trials/getug-afu-15/), [HERO](https://onco.cc/trials/hero/), [PATCH (Prostate Adenocarcinoma Transcutaneous Hormone)](https://onco.cc/trials/patch-transdermal-oestradiol/), [RADICALS-HD](https://onco.cc/trials/radicals-hd/), [RTOG 92-02](https://onco.cc/trials/rtog-9202/), [RTOG 94-08](https://onco.cc/trials/rtog-9408/), [SPCG-7/SFUO-3](https://onco.cc/trials/spcg-7/), [SWOG 9346 (intermittent androgen deprivation)](https://onco.cc/trials/swog-9346/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/hormone-therapy.json