Sorry for being pest!!!

That is a good question to ask. Cancer cells are regular breast cells that have gone crazy. If you saw pictures of breast cancer cells next to regular cells, you could quickly tell the differnce with very little training. The black nucli in the center of the cells are odd shaped and the cell shaped gets weird looking. But even smaller than the eye can see is how the cell is working. Some cancer cells have little receptors on them that match up to estrogen and/or progesteron. I hope I spelled those right. Those two things are hormones that naturally occur in a woman's body along with lots of other hormones. The cancer cells that have receptors for estrogen are called ER+ or estrogen postive. That means that estrogen is able to fuel the growth of those cells. PR+ means progesteron positive. If cancer cells test out ER+ then a drug like Tamoxifen is effective in filling the ER receptors and blocking the body's estrogen. That cuts of the strong fuel that powers the cancer cell's growth. The cells will not grow then and maybe will even die. This is great! I asked about meds for PR+, but I haven't gotten an answer on that. ER+/PR+ cancer also is responsive to aromatase inhibitors like Arimidex, Aromosin, and such. These hormone treatments can only be used on ER+/PR+ cancers AFTER menapause. They lower the amount of estrogen in the body made by your andrenal glands (found near your kidneys I believe) and by your body fat. The aromatase inhibitors won't stop your ovaries from pouring estrogen into your body. Estrogen is not all bad. It also powers most of the feminine changes in your body. It strengthens your bones and protects your heart. Tamoxifen just blocks it from powering the breast cancer cells. Unfortunately, after about two and a half to five years, the breast cancer mutates or progresses into a form that powers its growth from Tamoxifen. By stopping the Tamoxifen at five years, that cancer stops growing. That's why they recommend that you only use Tamoxifen for five years and then quit. Now we can switch to the other treatments, at least after the ovaries shut down.

cabbott said:

That is a good question to ask. Cancer cells are regular breast cells that have gone crazy. If you saw pictures of breast cancer cells next to regular cells, you could quickly tell the differnce with very little training. The black nucli in the center of the cells are odd shaped and the cell shaped gets weird looking. But even smaller than the eye can see is how the cell is working. Some cancer cells have little receptors on them that match up to estrogen and/or progesteron. I hope I spelled those right. Those two things are hormones that naturally occur in a woman's body along with lots of other hormones. The cancer cells that have receptors for estrogen are called ER+ or estrogen postive. That means that estrogen is able to fuel the growth of those cells. PR+ means progesteron positive. If cancer cells test out ER+ then a drug like Tamoxifen is effective in filling the ER receptors and blocking the body's estrogen. That cuts of the strong fuel that powers the cancer cell's growth. The cells will not grow then and maybe will even die. This is great! I asked about meds for PR+, but I haven't gotten an answer on that. ER+/PR+ cancer also is responsive to aromatase inhibitors like Arimidex, Aromosin, and such. These hormone treatments can only be used on ER+/PR+ cancers AFTER menapause. They lower the amount of estrogen in the body made by your andrenal glands (found near your kidneys I believe) and by your body fat. The aromatase inhibitors won't stop your ovaries from pouring estrogen into your body. Estrogen is not all bad. It also powers most of the feminine changes in your body. It strengthens your bones and protects your heart. Tamoxifen just blocks it from powering the breast cancer cells. Unfortunately, after about two and a half to five years, the breast cancer mutates or progresses into a form that powers its growth from Tamoxifen. By stopping the Tamoxifen at five years, that cancer stops growing. That's why they recommend that you only use Tamoxifen for five years and then quit. Now we can switch to the other treatments, at least after the ovaries shut down.

ive just read this as i was not sure about ER+ and the way tamoxifen works. this is really helpful information from ladies that know from experience, this site is just wonderful, thankyou to all Tan39 xx

cabbott said:

When they test the cells from the tumor or biopsy sample, they count of the percentage of cells that light up after absorbing some kind of substance that points out the ones that are ER+. The closer you are to 100% the better since that means most of the cancer is probably controllable with hormone treatments like Tamoxifen or Arimidex. Almost all tumors contain a mix of cells. The ones Tamoxifen doesn't control or "plug" may die off, may replicate, or may just sit there. If only a small percentage are ER+, then chemo would be a better choice for treatment. I do not know what oncologists use as percentage cut-offs.

I'm triple negative with only 5% ER positive. Chemo has been recommended with use of hormone therapy to get whatever benefit possible.