Gemcitabine based combination regimens for treatment of refractory advanced breast cancer

Objective: Anthracycline and taxane are the standard agents in combined chemotherapy of advanced breast cancer. However, when these agents based chemotherapy is failure, the selection of salvage regimen is still of problem. Gemcitabine, an active agent in both lung cancer and pancreas cancer, is demonstrated effective in breast caner. But there have been relatively less data of gemcitabine in anthracycline and/or taxane-resistant breast cancer. Therefore we employe this study to explore the efficacy and safety of gemcitabine based combination regimen in this population. Methods: From May 2002 to March 2006, 28 patients with measurable lesion of advanced metastatic breast cancer who were resistant to prior anthracycline and taxane based chemotherapy were enrolled. Patients were treated with gemcitabine based combination chemotherapy with a median cycles of 3 (range 2-6). Results: The overall response rate was 28.6% (8/28), with 1 CR (Complete response 3.5%) and 7 PRs (Partial response 25%). Stable disease was seen in 8 patients (28.6%) while disease progressed in 12 patiens (42.8%). The median time to progression was 4.5 m (range, 2-23 m). The main toxicity included bone marrow depression, alopecia, mucositis and peripheral neurotoxicity. The grade 3 to 4 clinical adverse effect was leukopenia in 5 cases (17.9%) and thrombocytopenia in 8 cases (30%). Conclusion: Gemcitabine based combination regimens is feasible in anthracycline and taxane-resistant advanced breast cancer. The clinical response and TTP is acceptable with limited toxicity pattern.OncologySCI(E)中国科学引文数据库(CSCD)0ARTICLE3194-2012