Breast Cancer

The 4th National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference on Adjuvant Therapy of Breast Cancer, held November 1-3, 2000, concluded that decreasing breast cancer mortality rates in the United States were due, at least in part, to advances made in adjuvant treatment. This fact lends credence to the importance of incremental improvements that have resulted from randomized, controlled clinical trials of adjuvant therapy, and underscores the value of this approach. With 185,000 new diagnoses of breast cancer expected in the United States in 2000, over 100,000 women may be candidates for some form of adjuvant therapy each year.[1]

Many active cytotoxic agents exist for breast cancer therapy, and numerous combination chemotherapy regimens are derived from them. Creating these combinations is sometimes empirically motivated by non-overlapping

Dr. Subir Nag et al are to be congratulated for their excellent, thorough analysis and presentation of the use and role of

The article by Nag and colleagues of the American Brachytherapy Society is a well-intentioned effort to establish guidelines

Breast cancer is sensitive to several cytotoxic drugs. Combination cytotoxic regimens are associated with higher response rates and longer durations of response and, occasionally, survival, than are single-agent regimens.

Numerous trials have shown that the pharmacokinetic interferences of epirubicin (Ellence)/paclitaxel (Taxol) combinations produce less pharmacodynamic effect than doxorubicin/paclitaxel regimens. Paclitaxel is more easily

Whole-breast external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT) involves a 6-week course of fractionated treatments. In

Pemetrexed disodium (Alimta, LY231514) is a novel, multitargeted antifolate that inhibits thymidylate synthase, dihydrofolate reductase, and glycinamide ribonucleotide formyl transferase. This agent is broadly active in a wide

In recent years, the clinical application of paclitaxel (Taxol), docetaxel (Taxotere), vinorelbine (Navelbine), and trastuzumab (Herceptin) has improved the management of advanced breast cancer. With the introduction of

Docetaxel (Taxotere) and gemcitabine (Gemzar) are active agents against breast cancer. Several phase I studies evaluated different schedules of their combination and clearly demonstrated that docetaxel and gemcitabine can

In a single-center, open, phase II trial, we assessed the toxicity and activity of a triple combination therapy-doxorubicin at 30 mg/m2 (day 1), paclitaxel (Taxol) at 135 mg/m2 (day 2), and gemcitabine (Gemzar) at 2,500 mg/m2

In a phase II trial, 29 patients with anthracycline-pretreated or anthracycline-resistant metastatic breast cancer in whom anthracycline-containing first- or second-line chemotherapy failed received combination paclitaxel

A phase II trial evaluated the effectiveness and toxicity of combination paclitaxel (Taxol), gemcitabine (Gemzar), and trastuzumab (Herceptin) as first-line therapy for patients with newly diagnosed HER2-overexpressing

The goal of this activity is to clarify challenging treatment issues of HER2+ breast cancer including incorporation of predictive and prognostic biomarker tests and evidence-based data into practice when determining individualized strategies that improve patient survival and quality of life.

Capecitabine (Xeloda) is the first orally available fluoropyrimidine approved for use in patients with cancer. It was initially approved for use in metastatic breast cancer, but significant data also support its use in the management

UFT and leucovorin (Orzel) is a combination of tegafur and uracil in a molar ratio of 1:4. Tegafur, a prodrug of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), is converted to 5-FU by the hepatic cytochrome P450 pathway, whereas uracil enhances the

New treatment strategies for advanced breast cancer have focused on both the development of new molecular targets in breast cancer cells, as well as improving the therapeutic index of presently available therapy. The

WASHINGTON-Inositol hexa-phosphate (IP6) has shown antitumor effects in vitro and in animal models and may be ready for clinical trials in humans, said Ivana Vucenik, PhD, associate professor of medical and research technology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. She presented her study results at the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation grants conference "Reaching for the Cure."

BETHESDA, Md-Adjuvant therapy should be offered as an option to node-negative breast cancer patients, even those with tumors smaller than 1 cm, said Bernard Fisher, MD, scientific director of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP).

There is no evidence that a high-fat diet predisposes older women to breast cancer, report researchers from Harvard Medical School. It has long been thought that dietary fat can increase production of sex hormones, including estrogen, and

BETHESDA, Md-High-risk breast cancer patients receiving intermediate- or high-dose consolidation chemotherapy after CAF achieved overall survival that is "better than any other experience within the CALGB," William Peters, MD, PhD, said at the NIH Consensus Conference on Adjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer. He gave an update of CALGB 9082/SWOG 9114/NCIC MA-13.

NEW YORK-Letrozole (Femara) was found to be superior to tamoxifen (Nolvadex) in the largest study ever conducted of endocrine therapy in advanced breast cancer, Matthew J. Ellis, MD, PhD, clinical director of the Duke University Breast Cancer Program, said at the XVIII Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium. Median time to progression was 41 weeks for letrozole vs 26 weeks for tamoxifen (P = .0001), he said.

WASHINGTON-Umbilical cord blood cells alone have no cytotoxic properties, but studies show that when activated with interleukin-2 (IL-2), they may have some therapeutic effects against breast cancer, said Shantaram S. Joshi, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and anatomy, University of Nebraska Medical Center.

SAN ANTONIO-Results of a large phase III trial show that combining oral capecitabine (Xeloda) with docetaxel (Taxotere) significantly improved overall survival, time to disease progression, and response rates over docetaxel alone in women with anthracycline-resistant metastatic breast cancer.

BETHESDA, Md-Seconding the advice of a Food and Drug Administration review team, the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) has recommended that the FDA approve Femara tablets (letrozole, Novartis) as first-line therapy in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer.