A common female hormone could revolutionise breast cancer treatment, it was revealed last night.
Researchers have now called for clinical trials to begin to test the benefits of the hormone, progesterone, as an additional treatment.
The call comes after scientists pin-pointed the role of progesterone in breast cancer.
They have known for some time it plays a role as women seemed to fare better when tumours reacted to the hormone.
Now laboratory research, published in Nature, has shown that progesterone triggers a receptor in tumours to signal oestrogen receptors to change behaviour and slow down cancer growth.
The research involved studies of cell lines.
The researchers say about half the 50,000 women who develop breast cancer in the UK annually could benefit from the improved treatment.
Dr Jason Carroll, of the Cambridge Research Institute of Cancer Research UK, said: “This important laboratory research helps explain why some breast cancer patients have a better outlook.
"Crucially, it provides a strong case for a clinical trial to investigate the potential benefit of adding progesterone to drugs that target the oestrogen receptor, which could improve treatment for the majority of hormone-driven breast cancers.”
Dr Emma Smith, of Cancer Research UK, said the findings were "exciting."
She said it showed "how a cheap, safe, and widely available drug could potentially improve treatment for around half of all breast cancer patients."
* Mohammed H. et al. Progesterone receptor modulates estrogen receptor-? action in breast cancer Nature 8 July 2015; doi: 10.1038/nature14583
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