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Hormonal therapy (oncology)
Hormonal therapy in oncology
is
hormone therapy
for
cancer
and is one of the major modalities of
medical oncology
(
pharmacotherapy
for
cancer
), others being
cytotoxic chemotherapy
and
targeted therapy
(biotherapeutics). It involves the manipulation of the
endocrine system
through exogenous administration of specific
hormones
, particularly
steroid hormones
, or drugs which inhibit the production or activity of such hormones (
hormone antagonists
). Because steroid hormones are powerful drivers of
gene expression
in certain cancer
cells
, changing the levels or activity of certain hormones can cause certain cancers to cease growing, or even undergo
cell death
. Surgical removal of endocrine organs, such as
orchiectomy
and
oophorectomy
can also be employed as a form of hormonal therapy.
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