No apparent improvement in survival rates or lower rate of relapses has been found as a result of treating breast cancer patients with high-dose rather than conventional chemotherapy, according to European researchers.

However, new drugs that target the molecules linked with cancer, given in conjunction with chemotherapy, offer promising prospects, according to Dr. John Crown of St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin in a report presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Nice.

One treatment strategy for women with breast cancer has been an intense regimen of chemotherapy in combination with the patient's own bone marrow cells. However, high-dose chemotherapy produces severe side effects. Evidence from a number of studies has shown that there are no real benefits of high-dose chemotherapy that outweigh the side-effects or improve the chances of survival, said Crown.

Researchers conducted a study called the Anglo-Celtic I Study, in which more than 600 women with severe breast cancer involving the lymph nodes participated. The women were randomly assigned to receive either a program of high-dose chemotherapy or a treatment with conventional chemotherapy.

After a five-year follow up, there were no significant differences in the survival or the rate of relapse between the two treatment groups.

"In truth, the results of conventional-dose chemotherapy were better than expected," said Crown. "However, we must keep an open mind for the rest of the data, although our results already indicate that any benefits that emerge from high-dose chemotherapy will be, at best, modest."

"I believe that these results show us how far we can go with chemotherapy," said Crown. Data has been promising from research on Trastuzamab, a prototype for the new molecularly targeted drugs in combination with chemotherapy. "It would seem that the post-chemotherapy phase of the war on cancer has just begun," concluded Crown.

Other sources: European Society for Medical Oncology