Study: Taxotere Combination Superior for Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Early-stage breast cancer patients receiving a combination treatment based on the chemotherapy drug Taxotere (docetaxel) after surgery had 32 percent less chance of their cancer returning than women receiving a combination treatment based on the widely used 5-fluorouracil, according to researchers.

The Breast Cancer International Research Group, reporting on a phase III study evaluating docetaxel after breast surgery, told the American Society of Clinical Oncology that women with one to three positive lymph nodes had a 50 percent lower risk of relapse and 54 percent lower mortality rate when treated with docetaxel.

Women with one to three positive lymph nodes make up 60 to 70 percent of all women worldwide with node-positive early-stage breast cancer.

"The superior results observed with the docetaxel-based regimen indicate that it can potentially cure more women than one of the best chemotherapies we have," said Dr. Jean-Marc Nabholtz of UCLA, chairman of the Breast Cancer International Research Group.

The study was designed to determine if docetaxel, one of the most active agents in advanced breast cancer, would also have benefits for women with early-stage disease.

The 1,491 women participating in the trial at 111 medical centers in 20 countries received either a post-surgery regimen of docetaxel, doxorubicin (Adriamycin), and cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan), known as TAC, or the widely used standard regimen of 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide, known as FAC.

Nearly three years after treatment, the study results show that 82 percent of patients on TAC and 74 percent on FAC were alive and disease-free. This represents a 32 percent reduction in the risk of recurrence for those treated with TAC.

Fifty-four percent of study participants were younger than 50 years of age, 56 percent were premenopausal, 62 percent had one to three cancerous lymph nodes, 69 percent were hormone-receptor-positive, 60 percent had tumors larger than two centimeters and 20 percent had HER2-positive tumors. The benefit from TAC was observed regardless of hormone receptor status and HER2 receptor status, the researchers said.

"These early results are important for two reasons," said Dr. Nabholtz. "They represent a new, and possibly very large, advance in the choice of chemotherapy for many women, but they also may indicate a very good regimen for future combination with new therapies coming from biological research."

Other sources: ASCO