A Direct Synergistic Effect of Immunotherapy and Chemotherapy as a New Paradigm in Treatment of Breast Cancer
Abstract
Treatment of locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer remains a very difficult clinical problem. Chemotherapy is the treatment of choice for most of those patients. It is given as an adjuvant or neo-adjuvant settings alone or in combination with hormone therapy or Herceptin. Two classes of the drugs are primarily used: anthracyclines (doxorubicin, epirubicin, mitoxantrone) and taxanes (paclitaxel, docetaxel). In addition to the well-described toxicity the efficacy of the treatment remains relatively low. Median survival for patients with metastatic breast cancer is 18-24 months. Among patients treated with systemic chemotherapy 16.6% achieved complete responses and only 3.1% remained in complete remission for more than 5 years (1). Patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) have a poor prognosis when treated with surgery and radiotherapy. Preoperative (neo-adjuvant) chemotherapy has been developed as an alternative therapeutic strategy as it allows surgical intervention in patients who present with bulky primary disease. In general, neoadjuvant chemotherapy results in a complete-response rate of 10% to 35%.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA504983
Entities
People
- Dmitry I. Gabrilovich
Organizations
- H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute