Adjuvant therapy
Any treatment which is added to another therapy to increase or aid its effectiveness.
Treatment after surgery to reduce the risk of cancer coming back. Options include radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy such as an aromatase inhibitor or tamoxifen.

Adjuvant endocrine therapy
Describes the treatment of oestrogen or progesterone receptor positive cancers with additional hormone drugs after surgery to remove the tumour, in order to help stop the disease recurring. There are different types of adjuvant endocrine therapy, all of which work in slightly different ways to prevent breast cancer recurrence.

Androgen
Hormones that help to develop sex organs in men and also help maintain sexual function in both women and men. In women, most androgens are changed into oestrogen by fat and muscle cells.

Anti-oestrogen therapy
Drug that blocks the action of oestrogen (see tamoxifen). It works by preventing the hormone from attaching to breast cancer cells and encouraging them to grow.

Aromatase
Enzyme that converts androgen into oestrogen.

Aromatase inhibitor
A class of drugs that reduce the amount of oestrogen circulating in the body by binding to and inhibiting the enzyme aromatase, which is responsible for converting certain hormones to oestrogen in tissues such as fat, liver, muscle, and the tumour itself.

Breast cancer
Occurs when the cells in the breast undergo uncontrolled division and growth, resulting in development of a tumour. Breast tumours may be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).

Breast conserving surgery
Surgery that is intended to preserve as much breast tissue as possible. It usually involves: removal of the cancer and a small area of healthy tissue around it; removal of lymph nodes from the armpit; radiotherapy to the conserved breast

Chemotherapy
The use of drugs to treat disease; when used to treat cancer, the goal is to kill cancer cells.

Clinical trial
A scientific study to determine the safety and effectiveness of a new treatment. New treatments are tested on people only after they are found to be safe and effective in both test tube and animal studies.

Early breast cancer
Breast cancer in its earliest stages, when it remains limited to local tissues and has not spread beyond the breast or nearby lymph nodes

Endocrine
Hormone

Enzyme
Protein produced by a living cell that enables the body to carry out necessary chemical reactions.

Extended adjuvant therapy
Treatment following the initial five years of adjuvant tamoxifen therapy.

The GAEA Initiative
The GAEA Initiative is a European study which set out to fills gaps in current knowledge about women receiving hormone therapy. The study aims to determine post-menopausal women’s knowledge about the risk of recurrence of early breast cancer after surgery, evaluate their understanding of the purpose of adjuvant endocrine treatment and explore their attitudes towards treatment and support needs.

GAEA stands for Gathering information on Adjuvant Endocrine therApy.

HER2 / neu status
This gene encodes a growth-promoting protein which helps control how cells divide and repair themselves. Positive or negative HER2/neu status is important in the control of abnormal or defective cells that could become cancerous and may carry implications for treatment.

Histological grade

A calculation of how abnormal cancer cells look when examined under a microscope and how fast they are growing.

Hormonal Therapy
Any therapy that blocks hormonal stimulation of the growth of cancer cells.


Hormone
A chemical substance produced by glands in the body.  Hormones travel through the bloodstream and produce physiological effects in other tissues.


Hormone-responsive
Cells that require the action of hormones for their growth.

In situ cancer
Cancer confined within the cells of origin without invasion of other neighbouring cells.

Invasive cancer
Cancer that has grown beyond its cells of origin into other neighbouring cells. 

Lymph nodes
Small, bean-shaped organs that make and store the cells that fight infection; they are found in many places in the body, including under the arms and behind the ears. Auxiliary lymph nodes are located under the arms.

Mastectomy
Mastectomy is undertaken in cases where the cancer is large or where tests have revealed abnormal changes in the breast tumour. In this instance, the entire breast is removed.
Bilateral mastectomy is the removal of both breasts.

Menopause
Cessation of menstruation (usually between the ages of 45 and 55).

Metastasis
The spread of cancer cells from the original site to other parts of the body. Bone metastases are one of the most debilitating complications for patients suffering from breast cancer.

Nodal status
Whether or not the cancer has spread from the original site to the lymph nodes. Node positive means cancer is found in the lymph nodes; node negative means no cancer is found in the lymph nodes.

Node-positive/negative
Cancer cells that have spread (positive) or have not spread (negative) to the auxiliary lymph nodes.  Being node-positive places a woman at increased risk of recurrence.

Oestrogen
Protein inside certain cells that binds to oestrogen and may cause the cells to grow.

Oestrogen receptor
Protein inside certain cells that binds to oestrogen and may cause the cells to grow.

Oestrogen receptor-positive / negative
Cancer cells that contain oestrogen receptors (positive) or do not (negative).

Oncology
An area of medicine that deals with the study and treatment of cancer.

Receptor
A molecule inside or on the surface of a cell that binds to a specific substance and causes a specific physiologic effect in the cell.

Recurrence
When cancer comes back after treatment, either in the same place, or in a different area of the body.

·       Local recurrence occurs when cancerous cells remaining at the original tumour site grow back over time.

·       Regional recurrence is more serious than local recurrence because it usually indicates that the cancer has spread past the breast and underarm (axillary) lymph nodes.

·       Distant recurrence, also known as metastasis (stage IV), is the most serious type of recurrence and is associated with significantly lower survival.

Skeletal-related events (SREs)
Bone complications such as pathological fracture, spinal cord compression surgery or radiation cause severe pain and debilitation, limit functionality and may require hospitalisation.

Staging
A way to describe the extent of the cancer, based on such factors as tumour size, whether lymph nodes have been affected and whether it has spread to other parts of the body.

Surgery
When related to the treatment of cancer, any operation in which the cancer is removed.

Tamoxifen 
An oral anti-oestrogen used in the treatment of breast cancer. Tamoxifen is not an aromatase inhibitor.

Tumour properties
Characteristics of the tumour, including size and whether or not it is hormone receptor-positive.