"Drugs called luteinising-hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists, appear to be effective alone or combined with other treatments in fighting off hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, researchers suggest. This breast cancer subtype is spurred into growth by the presence of estrogen."

""This is an important finding for the subgroup of women who develop estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer before menopause," said Dr. Michael Thun, the head of epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society. He was not involved in the study."

"Luteinising hormone is made in the pituitary gland and stimulates ovulation and the production of estrogen. LHRH agonists copy the action of luteinising hormone and block the signal for making estrogen, which can stimulate the growth of breast cancer, according to the report in the May 19 issue of "

"In the study, Jack Cuzick, a professor from the University of London, and colleagues collected data from 16 trials on almost 12,000 premenopausal women who had developed early-stage breast cancer. "About 25 percent of breast cancer cases occur in women under age 50," Thun noted. "

"The team found that LHRH
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