Abstract
Background
Taxanes are a mainstay in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (mBC). Combination chemotherapy, including platinum–taxens doublets, can improve tumor responses and progression-free survival (PFS), but is associated with more toxicities and an uncertain benefit in terms of overall survival (OS).
Methods
We performed a retrospective study on 274 consecutive patients with mBC treated at the Division of Medical Oncology of Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy, during the decade 2007–2016 with the combination of carboplatin AUC 2 plus paclitaxel 80 mg/m2, both given on days 1 and 8 in every 21-day cycle.
Results
264 patients were evaluable for treatment safety and activity. The objective response rate (ORR) was 44.7%. Median PFS and OS were 8.6 and 23.7 months, respectively. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients had significantly lower PFS and OS times compared to other biology groups. At multivariable analysis, previous exposure to taxanes, HR-positive HER2-negative biology, a higher number of metastatic sites, and de novo metastatic disease at diagnosis were associated with reduced PFS, while receiving maintenance therapy correlated with improved PFS. Overall, the treatment was quite well tolerated, with 10.2% of patients discontinuing one or both drugs because of adverse events (AEs). G3–G4 neutropenia occurred in 16.8% of patients, while the incidence of febrile neutropenia was 2.3%.
Conclusions
Weekly carboplatin–paclitaxel regimen is active and well tolerated in mBC treatment. Prospective studies should be conducted to compare its efficacy and tolerability with standard single-agent paclitaxel or docetaxel treatment schedules, as well as with more recent combination regimens.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Cancer Society (2015) Cancer facts & figures 2015. American Cancer Society, Atlanta
Baselga J, Cortes J, Kim SB et al (2012) Pertuzumab plus trastuzumab plus docetaxel for metastatic breast cancer. N Engl J Med 366(2):109–119
Verma S, Miles D, Gianni L et al (2012) Trastuzumab emtansine for HER2-positive advanced breast cancer. N Engl J Med 367(19):1783–1791
Baselga J, Campone M, Piccart M et al (2012) Everolimus in postmenopausal hormone-receptor-positive advanced breast cancer. N Engl J Med 366(6):520–529
Turner NC, Ro J, Andre F et al (2015) Palbociclib in hormone-receptor-positive advanced breast cancer. N Engl J Med 373(3):209–219
Hortobagyi GN, Stemmer SM, Burris HA et al (2016) Ribociclib as first-line therapy for HR-positive, advanced breast cancer. N Engl J Med 375(18):1738–1748
Seidman AD, Berry D, Cirrincione C et al (2008) Randomized phase III trial of weekly compared with every-3-weeks paclitaxel for metastatic breast cancer, with trastuzumab for all HER-2 overexpressors and random assignment to trastuzumab or not in HER-2 nonoverexpressors: final results of Cancer and Leukemia Group B protocol 9840. J Clin Oncol 26(10):1642–1649
Stemmler HJ, Harbeck N, Groll de Rivera I et al (2010) Prospective multicenter randomized phase III study of weekly versus standard docetaxel (D2) for first-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Oncology 79(3–4):197–203
Rivera E, Mejia JA, Arun BK et al (2008) Phase 3 study comparing the use of docetaxel on an every-3-week versus weekly schedule in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Cancer 112(7):1455–1461
Mauri D, Kamposioras K, Tsali L et al (2010) Overall survival benefit for weekly vs. three-weekly taxanes regimens in advanced breast cancer: a meta-analysis. Cancer Treat Rev 36(1):69–74
Qi WX, Shen Z, Lin F et al (2013) Paclitaxel-based versus docetaxel-based regimens in metastatic breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Curr Med Res Opin 29(2):117–125
Dear RF, McGeechan K, Jenkins MC et al (2013) Combination versus sequential single agent chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD008792.pub2
Carrick S, Parker S, Thornton CE et al (2009) Single agent versus combination chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003372.pub3
Fountzilas G, Kalofonos HP, Dafni U et al (2004) Paclitaxel and epirubicin versus paclitaxel and carboplatin as first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced breast cancer: a phase III study conducted by the Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group. Ann Oncol 15(10):1517–1526
Perez EA, Hillman DW, Stella PJ et al (2000) A phase II study of paclitaxel plus carboplatin as first-line chemotherapy for women with metastatic breast carcinoma. Cancer 88(1):124–131
Perez EA, Suman VJ, Rowland KM et al (2005) Two concurrent phase II trials of paclitaxel/carboplatin/trastuzumab (weekly or every-3-week schedule) as first-line therapy in women with HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer: NCCTG study 983252. Clin Breast Cancer 6(5):425–432
Burris H 3rd, Yardley D, Jones S et al (2004) Phase II trial of trastuzumab followed by weekly paclitaxel/carboplatin as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 22(9):1621–1629
Chen XS, Nie XQ, Chen CM et al (2010) Weekly paclitaxel plus carboplatin is an effective nonanthracycline-containing regimen as neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. Ann Oncol 21(5):961–967
Guarneri V, Dieci MV, Bisagni G et al (2015) Preoperative carboplatin-paclitaxel-bevacizumab in triple-negative breast cancer: final results of the phase II Ca.Pa.Be study. Ann Surg Oncol 22(9):2881–2887
Yardley DC, R. Conte, P. Brufsky, A. O’Shaughnessy, J. et al (2016) Nab-paclitaxel + carboplatin or gemcitabine vs gemcitabine/carboplatin as first-line treatment for patients with triple-negative metastatic breast cancer: results from the randomized phase 2 portion of the tnAcity trial. In: Presented at: 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, San Antonio. Abstract P5-15-03
Pentheroudakis G, Razis E, Athanassiadis A et al (2006) Paclitaxel-carboplatin combination chemotherapy in advanced breast cancer: accumulating evidence for synergy, efficacy, and safety. Med Oncol 23(2):147–160
Perez EA (2004) Carboplatin in combination therapy for metastatic breast cancer. Oncologist 9(5):518–527
Loesch D, Robert N, Asmar L et al (2002) Phase II multicenter trial of a weekly paclitaxel and carboplatin regimen in patients with advanced breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 20(18):3857–3864
Sutherland S, Miles D, Makris A (2016) Use of maintenance endocrine therapy after chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer. Eur J Cancer 69:216–222
Dufresne A, Pivot X, Tournigand C et al (2008) Maintenance hormonal treatment improves progression free survival after a first line chemotherapy in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Int J Med Sci 5(2):100–105
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vernieri, C., Milano, M., Mennitto, A. et al. Antitumor activity and safety profile of weekly carboplatin plus paclitaxel in metastatic breast cancer: a ten-year, monocentric, retrospective study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 165, 365–373 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-017-4336-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-017-4336-z