SOUTHLAND WOMEN WANTED FOR STUDY OF BREAST CANCER DRUG.

Byline: Cynthia Teed Daily News Staff Writer

UCLA will recruit patients from the Santa Clarita Valley who are at risk for breast cancer for a 1,500-member cancer prevention trial, one of the largest ever conducted.

Five Los Angeles-area cancer centers affiliated with the University of California at Los Angeles announced Tuesday the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR) will recruit more than 1,500 post-menopausal women over the next five years.

STAR will determine whether the osteoporosis prevention drug raloxifene - marketed as Evista - is as effective in reducing the risk of breast cancer as tamoxifen (Nolvadex).

Tamoxifen has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer by about half in a study of 13,000 women at high risk of developing the disease, UCLA officials said.

Participants in STAR will receive either tamoxifen or raloxifene daily for five years and undergo regular follow-up examinations, including mammograms and gynecological exams, a UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center spokesman said.

In the Los Angeles area, participating centers include Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, City of Hope Cancer Center, St. Vincent's L.A. Oncologic Institute, USC/Norris Cancer Center and UCLA's Jonsson center, where local patients can participate at UCLA's satellite center in Santa Clarita, said Dr. John Barstis, medical director of the local center.

These five centers and the Santa Clarita satellite center participating in the STAR study will be among 400 sites nationwide and will involve 22,000 women at sites in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

``It's really important for us to get out the word to women who may be termed at high risk of developing breast cancer,'' said Barbara Kahn, project coordinator for UCLA's Cancer Prevention Network.

UCLA's Barstis uses a formula to identify those at high risk, saying several factors are considered in determining who's likely to develop breast cancer.

The two most important are family history and having undergone a previous breast biopsy evidencing a lobular carcinoma, he said.

``We add up the factors to see if a patient has enough risk (in developing breast cancer) that they then should be advised to do something about it,'' Barstis said.

Getting the message out to women at high risk of developing breast cancer can help them to participate in this study - helping themselves and others at the same time, Jonsson center spokeswoman Kim Irwin said.

Clinical trials like STAR are crucial in the fight to beat cancer, especially in recruiting minority participants, and can affect future treatment of breast cancer, a disease that will strike 184,000 U.S. women in 1999, Irwin said.

But the first step for some women in the fight will be a telephone screening conducted locally by Barstis, associate clinical professor of medicine at UCLA.

``This study is especially important because it is different. Everyone gets something - either one of the drugs, tamoxifen or raloxifene,'' he said. ``In previous studies, participants often received a placebo rather than medicine. In this study, everyone benefits.''

But no woman should be pressured to undergo any treatment or to participate in any clinical trials, Barstis said. But those who do will not only benefit from the medicine - as both drugs have shown some benefit when administered properly - but from the medical information as well.

``When we put women into the trials, our highly trained staff also educates them as to what risks they face and how much and what can be done to prevent the disease,'' he said.

Now only post-menopausal women may participate in the study, but Barstis foresees the study to be expanded to include pre-menopausal women in the next two years.

Although breast cancer can and does strike men, only women will be included in the STAR study.

Those interested in participating locally in the study can call [phone].