In 2008, it is estimated that over 1 million women worldwide will be diagnosed with breast cancer, of which 172,695 will be classified as “triple-negative.”[1] The triple-negative phenotype encompasses a breast tumor subtype that is clinically negative for expression of the estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER and PR) and lacks overexpression of the HER2 protein, with unique prognostic and therapeutic implications.
Two years after her first mammogram the patient, EC, noticed swelling and skin changes in one breast. A bone scan, chest and abdomen CT, and PET scan were negative for metastatic spread, staging the cancer at IIIB.
Novel agents are adding to the wide choices of standard chemotherapies already available. This review offers an approach to the selection of individualized and rational therapies for patients with metastatic breast cancer.
This article reviews recent findings from clinical trials of epothilones and discusses future directions for the use of these agents in cancer therapy, with a focus on the two most-studied epothilones to date: ixabepilone and patupilone.
The combination of capecitabine (Xeloda) and ixabepilone (Ixempra) appears to be robust in patients with the so-called triple-negative breast cancer phenotype
