Clinical trial · Interventional
Testosterone in Treating Postmenopausal Patients With Arthralgia Caused by Adjuvant Aromatase Inhibitor Treatment
Randomized Double-Blind Placebo Controlled Study of Testosterone in the Adjuvant Treatment of Postmenopausal Women With Aromatase Inhibitor Induced Arthralgias
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
This randomized phase III trial studies testosterone to see how well it works compared to placebo in treating postmenopausal patients with arthralgia (joint pain) caused by anastrozole or letrozole. Testosterone may help relieve moderate or severe arthralgia associated with the use of aromatase inhibitors, such as anastrozole or letrozole.
Conditions
Conditions (5)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arthralgia | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Breast Cancer | Malignant Breast Neoplasm | CURATED_EXACT | 0.92 |
| Hot Flashes | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Musculoskeletal Complications | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Sexual Dysfunction | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| placebo | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| testosterone | Drug | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Arm I
- description
- Patients receive testosterone (0.264mL) topical application daily for six months.
- interventionNames
- Drug: testosterone
- type
- PLACEBO_COMPARATOR
- label
- Arm II
- description
- Patients receive placebo (0.264mL) topical application daily for six months.
- interventionNames
- Other: placebo
Primary outcomes (4)
- measure
- Change in Item #3 (Average) of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Average Pain From Baseline to Month 3
- timeFrame
- From baseline to 3 months
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- Female
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria:
1. Age ≥ 18 years
2. Receiving anastrozole (1mg) or letrozole (2.5 mg) orally once a day, for ≥ 21 days prior to registration and plan to continue it throughout the duration of study
3. Body Mass Index (BMI) between 18 and 35 kg/m\^2
4. Women who have undergone a total mastectomy or breast conserving surgery for primary breast cancer +/-chemo, +/-radiotherapy.
5. Must have BOTH ER and PR receptor-positive tumors and BOTH must be ≥26% positive. Alternatively, if ER and PR are determined by Allred score, the score needs to be 5 or higher
6. Women who are postmenopausal by surgery, radiotherapy or presence of natural amenorrhea ≥ 12 months
7. ≥ 5/10 arthralgia (in hands, wrist, knees, or hips) while being treated with anastrozole or letrozole which is felt by the patient to be caused by their aromatase inhibitor as defined in the protocol. Note: Patients may, or may not, be taking non-opioid analgesics
8. Ability to complete questionnaire(s) by themselves or with assistance
9. ECOG Performance Status (PS) 0, 1 or 2
10. Willing to provide informed written consent
11. Willing to return to an Alliance enrolling institution for follow-up
12. Willing to provide blood samples for correlative research purposes
13. Laboratory values prior to registration as defined in the protocol:
1. Creatinine ≤1.5 x ULN
2. Hemoglobin \> 11 g/dL
3. WBC \> 3.0
4. Platelet Count \> 100,000
5. SGOT (AST) ≤ 1.5 x ULN
Exclusion Criteria:
1. Presence of residual or recurrent cancer (locally or metastatic)
2. Diabetes mellitus or glucose intolerance, defined as a fasting glucose \>125 mg/dL
3. History of coronary artery disease (angina or myocardial infarction)
4. Patients on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) ≤ 4 weeks prior to registration. This includes the use of vaginal estrogen therapy.
5. Known hypersensitivity to any component of testosterone.
6. Prolonged systemic corticosteroid treatment, except for topical applications (e.g. for rash), inhaled sprays (e.g. for obstructive airway diseases), eye drops or local insertion (e.g. intra-articular). Note: Short duration (\< 2 weeks) of systemic corticosteroids is allowed (e.g. for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) but not within 30 days prior to registration.
7. Receiving any other investigational agent
8. History of a deep venous thrombosis or a thromboembolism
9. Concurrent use of the aromatase inhibitor exemestane, as it is structurally similar to an androgen
10. Concurrent radiation therapy or chemotherapy
11. Current or planned use of cyclosporine, anticoagulants, oxphenbutazone, insulin, oral or injectable vitamin D doses over 4,000IU/day, or tamoxifenReferences
Publications (1)
- DERIVEDCathcart-Rake E, Novotny P, Leon-Ferre R, Le-Rademacher J, Storrick EM, Adjei AA, Terstriep S, Glaser R, Giuliano A, Mitchell WR, Page S, Austin C, Deming RL, Ferreira MA, Lafky JM, Birrell SN, Loprinzi CL. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of testosterone for treatment of postmenopausal women with aromatase inhibitor-induced arthralgias: Alliance study A221102. Support Care Cancer. 2021 Jan;29(1):387-396. doi: 10.1007/s00520-020-05473-2. Epub 2020 May 6. PMID 32372176