Jump to content

  • Set Your Location
  • Sign in or Enroll
Set Your LocationSet Your Location
  • Find a Doctor
  • Find a Location
  • Donate Now
  • Patient Login
    • Sign In to My Health Online
    • Enroll in My Health Online
    • Learn About My Health Online
    • Open Choose a medical group or hospital
    • Clear my location
Change Location
Sutter Health
  • BOOK APPOINTMENT
  • Book Appointment
  • Profile
Book Appointment
Walk-In Care

In-person care for minor illnesses.

Urgent Care

In-person care for moderate illnesses and injuries.

Video Visits

Virtual care with a Walk-In Care clinician.

Primary Care

Ongoing care and wellness for everyone.

COVID-19

Resources for vaccination and boosters.

Patient Login
  • Sign In to My Health Online
  • Enroll in My Health Online
  • Learn About My Health Online
  • Patients and Visitors

    Patients and Visitors

    Get personalized, coordinated care across Northern California through the Sutter network.

    View Patient Resources
    My Health Online

    Make appointments, message your doctor and more through our patient portal.

    Enroll Now
    • Find a DoctorFind a Doctor
    • Find a LocationFind a Location
    • View All ServicesView All Services
    • Request RecordsRequest Records
    • Pay a BillPay a Bill
    • Check SymptomsCheck Symptoms
    Patient Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Patient and Visitor Information
    • My Health Online Patient Portal
    • Classes and Events
    • Doctor Referrals
    • Health and Wellness
    • COVID-19 Vaccine Resources
    Billing and Insurance
    • Pay a Bill
    • Accepted Health Plans
    • Cost Estimates/Charges
    • Medicare Advantage
    • Sutter Health Plus
  • Treatments and Services

    Treatments and Services

    Access award-winning, comprehensive primary and specialty care for your whole family.

    View All Services
    Schedule a Visit

    Convenient care options for your everyday health needs.

    Book Appointment
    Get Care
    • Primary CarePrimary Care
    • Video VisitsVideo Visits
    • Walk-In CareWalk-In Care
    • Urgent CareUrgent Care
    • Emergency CareEmergency Care
    Featured Services
    • Mental Health
    • Pregnancy and Childbirth
    • Imaging
    • Pediatrics
    • Orthopedics
    • Cancer
    • Heart and Vascular
     
    • Dermatology
    • Physical Therapy
    • Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT)
    • Labs
    • Urology
    • Neuroscience
    • Women's Health (OB/GYN)
    • View All Services
  • Research and Education

    Research and Education

    Our contributions to medical research and education lead to better healthcare outcomes.

    Research at Sutter
    Graduate Medical Education

    Join our robust training programs led by nationally known healthcare leaders.

    Explore Opportunities
    Research
    • Clinical TrialsClinical Trials
    • Research StudiesResearch Studies
    • PublicationsPublications
    • InvestigatorsInvestigators
    Education
    • Residencies and Fellowships
    • Continuing Medical Education
  • About Sutter

    About Us

    Explore the ways we provide innovative, compassionate care through our network.

    Learn About Sutter Health
    Work at Sutter Health

    Shape the future of healthcare and build your career within our diverse teams.

    Find Jobs
    About Sutter Health
    • About Us
    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Awards and Honors
    • Leadership
    • Annual Report
    • News and Media
    • Patient Stories
    • Business Programs
    Community
    • Giving
    • Volunteer With Us
    • Community Benefit
    Careers
    • Jobs at Sutter
    • Physician Opportunities
    • Residencies and Fellowships
  • BOOK APPOINTMENTBook Appointment
Logo
  • Patients and Visitors
  • Treatments and Services
  • Research and Education
  • About Sutter
Find a DoctorFind a DoctorFind a LocationFind a LocationContact UsContact UsDonate NowDonate Now
BOOK APPOINTMENT
  • My Health Online Patient LoginMy Health Online Patient Login
  • Set My LocationSet My Location
Logo
  • Find a DoctorFind a Doctor
  • Find a LocationFind a Location
  • View All ServicesView All Services
  • Request RecordsRequest Records
  • Pay a BillPay a Bill
  • Check SymptomsCheck Symptoms
Patient Resources
  • Contact Us
  • Patient and Visitor Information
  • My Health Online Patient Portal
  • Classes and Events
  • Doctor Referrals
  • Health and Wellness
  • COVID-19 Vaccine Resources
Billing and Insurance
  • Pay a Bill
  • Accepted Health Plans
  • Cost Estimates/Charges
  • Medicare Advantage
  • Sutter Health Plus

Patients and Visitors

Get personalized, coordinated care across Northern California through the Sutter network.

View Patient Resources
My Health Online

Make appointments, message your doctor and more through our patient portal.

Enroll Now
Patient
My Health Online

Make appointments, message your doctor and more through our patient portal.

Enroll Now
Logo
Get Care
  • Primary CarePrimary Care
  • Video VisitsVideo Visits
  • Walk-In CareWalk-In Care
  • Urgent CareUrgent Care
  • Emergency CareEmergency Care
Featured Services
  • Mental Health
  • Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Imaging
  • Pediatrics
  • Orthopedics
  • Cancer
  • Heart and Vascular
  • Dermatology
  • Physical Therapy
  • Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT)
  • Labs
  • Urology
  • Neuroscience
  • Women's Health (OB/GYN)

Treatments and Services

Access award-winning, comprehensive primary and specialty care for your whole family.

View All Services
Schedule a Visit

Convenient care options for your everyday health needs.

Book Appointment
Logo
Research
  • Clinical TrialClinical Trials
  • Research StudiesResearch Studies
  • PublicationsPublications
  • InvestigatorsInvestigators
Education
  • Residencies and Fellowships
  • Continuing Medical Education

Research and Education

Our contributions to medical research and education lead to better healthcare outcomes.

Research at Sutter
Graduate Medical Education

Join our robust training programs led by nationally known healthcare leaders.

Explore Opportunities
Research
Graduate Medical Education

Join our robust training programs led by nationally known healthcare leaders.

Explore Opportunities
Logo
About Sutter Health
  • About Us
  • Diversity and Inclusion
  • Awards and Honors
  • Leadership
  • Annual Report
  • News and Media
  • Patient Stories
  • Business Programs
Community
  • Giving
  • Volunteer With Us
  • Community Benefit
Careers
  • Jobs at Sutter
  • Physician Opportunities
  • Residencies and Fellowships

About Us

Explore the ways we provide innovative, compassionate care through our network.

Learn About Sutter Health
Work at Sutter Health

Shape the future of healthcare and build your career within our diverse teams.

Find Jobs
Career
Work at Sutter Health

Shape the future of healthcare and build your career within our diverse teams.

Find Jobs
  • Home
  • Services
  • Cancer
  • Hormone Therapy
Content

Hormone Therapy to Treat Cancer

Several types of cancer can be treated with hormone therapy, including prostate cancer, breast cancer and endometrial cancer. If hormone therapy is an option for the type of cancer you have, your doctor will talk with you about how this kind of therapy might benefit you, as well as the potential side effects.

Hormones and Cancer Cells

Some hormones can stimulate cancer cells to grow. For example, the hormone testosterone is necessary for normal prostate function, but it can also promote the growth of prostate cancer cells. Estrogen is needed for a woman’s development and fertility, but it can also stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.

Cancer researchers have developed several hormone-based therapies that can interrupt those cancer growth-promoting pathways. Some hormonal therapies decrease the amount of hormones produced by the body, while others block the action of the hormones on cancer cells.

Hormone therapy is termed a systemic therapy, because it works throughout the body. But it is more targeted than chemotherapy, another type of systemic therapy. Hormone therapy drugs don’t act on unrelated cells, as chemotherapy can. They act only on pathways related to the hormones.

Packet of pills

Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Most prostate cancer cells have receptors for testosterone and are potential targets for hormone therapy.

Several drugs have been developed that, by acting on various pathways, stop the body from making testosterone, slowing the growth of the cancer. Drugs commonly used for prostate cancer include luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists, LHRH antagonists and androgen synthesis inhibitors.  They are delivered through periodic injections (once a month or over longer intervals), small implants that are placed under the skin or daily pills.

Other drugs, known as antiandrogens, block the action of testosterone. These drugs bind themselves to the receptors on the cancer cells, preventing testosterone from binding to them and promoting cell growth.

Hormone therapy often can slow down the growth of prostate cancer for quite a while, and can sometimes shrink a tumor. But in most cases, some prostate cancer cells will eventually lose their need for the testosterone “fuel” and will continue to grow anyway, making hormone therapy ineffective. For that reason, hormone therapy is not seen as a cure for prostate cancer.

Depleting the body of testosterone can lead to many side effects, including hot flashes, erectile dysfunction, decreased sexual desire, loss of bone density, weight gain, decreased muscle mass and strength, growth of breast tissue, anemia, memory loss, and a higher risk of diabetes, heart attack and stroke. Many men choose to have intermittent therapy, in which they take a break from the drugs for a few weeks or months. This allows their testosterone level to rise slowly, relieving many side effects and often restoring sexual function. Hormone therapy is restarted once the man’s Prostate-Specific Antigen level reaches a certain point, which indicates that the cancer cells are growing again.

Surgical castration, removal of the testes, is another form of hormone therapy for prostate cancer. It is not often used, however, as it is irreversible.

Hormone Therapy for Breast Cancer

About 70 percent of breast cancers contain estrogen receptors and can have their growth stimulated by the presence of estrogen. Before prescribing hormone therapy, your doctor will likely have a tissue sample from your biopsy or surgery tested for estrogen receptors. If they are present, the cancer is termed estrogen-receptor positive, or ER-positive, and might respond to hormone therapy. If no estrogen receptors are present, the cancer is termed ER-negative. Hormone therapy isn't useful for ER-negative tumors.

Today, doctors have several options for treating breast cancer with hormone therapy. Each type of therapy works in a different way, including: 

  • Blocking the ability of estrogen to stimulate cell growth — Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) bind to the estrogen receptors on the cells, preventing estrogen from binding.
  • Blocking the production of estrogen — Drugs known as aromatase inhibitors prevent the body from producing estrogen, by blocking the activity of an enzyme that is essential to the process.
  • Blocking ovarian function — Estrogen production in the ovaries is prevented by surgically removing the ovaries (oophorectomy) or treating them with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormones.

Hormone therapy for breast cancer can lead to side effects, including hot flashes, vaginal dryness, a disrupted menstrual cycle, night sweats, bone loss, stroke, mood swings, loss of libido, an increased risk of blood clots, heart attack and heart failure, and more.

Talk with your doctor to determine whether hormone therapy is right for you.

Related Content

  • Precision Medicine
  • Medical Oncology
  • Targeted Therapy

Doctors at Sutter Gould Medical Foundation

The following doctors are part of the Sutter Health network. Learn about the doctors on this site.
Allen Li, M.D., M.S.

Allen Li, M.D., M.S.

  • Medical Oncology

View All Related Doctors

Services Near You

Stockton Medical Plaza II

Stockton Medical Plaza II

2545 West Hammer Lane

Stockton, CA 95209

(209) 948-1641

Main Clinic 600 Coffee Road

Main Clinic 600 Coffee Road

600 Coffee Road

Modesto, CA 95355

(209) 524-1211

Briggsmore Specialty Center

Briggsmore Specialty Center

1409 East Briggsmore Avenue

Modesto, CA 95355

(209) 524-1211

View All Related Locations

The Sutter Health Network of Care
Expertise to fit your needs
Primary Care

Check-ups, screenings and sick visits for adults and children.

Specialty Care

Expertise and advanced technologies in all areas of medicine.

Emergency Care

For serious accidents, injuries and conditions that require immediate medical care.

Urgent Care

After-hours, weekend and holiday services.

Walk-In Care

Convenient walk-in care clinics for your non-urgent health needs.

  • Contact Us
  • Find Doctors
  • Find Locations
  • Book Appointment
  • Request Medical Records
  • Donate Now
Sign in to My Health Online

Billing and Insurance

  • Pay a Bill
  • Accepted Health Plans
  • Estimate Costs
  • Medicare Advantage

About Sutter

  • About Our Network
  • Community Benefit
  • Annual Report
  • News and Media

Our Team

  • For Employees
  • For Medical Professionals
  • For Vendors
  • For Volunteers

Careers

  • Jobs at Sutter
  • Physician Jobs
  • Graduate Medical Education

Copyright © 2023 Sutter Health. All rights reserved. Sutter Health is a registered trademark of Sutter Health ®, Reg. U.S. Patent & Trademark office.

  • ADA Accessibility
  • Price Transparency
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • LinkedIn Opens new window
  • YouTube Opens new window
  • Facebook Opens new window
  • Twitter Opens new window
  • Instagram Opens new window
  • Glassdoor Opens new window

Cookie Policy

We use cookies to give you the best possible user experience. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. Privacy Policy Cookie Preferences

Privacy Policy Cookie Preferences