Is anthracycline-based chemotherapy alone adequate for young women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer?

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that young women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer (BC) require additional treatment because of the inadequacy of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate fluorouracil (CMF) alone. Herein we report our findings from 368 premenopausal patients given adjuvant anthracycline alone. Overall, patients had a significantly increasing risk of relapse and dying with decreasing age at diagnosis and ER-negative disease. Interestingly, ER expression was not a negative prognostic factor, even among women <35 years, the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) tending to be higher in patients with ER-positive rather than -negative BC. The potential of combining anthracyclines and endocrine therapies is reviewed and discussed.

• Authors: Paola Papaldo, Serena Di Cosimo, Gianluigi Ferretti, Paolo Carlini, Alessandra Fabi, Fabiana Cecere, Francesco Cognetti
• Journal: Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) (Breast) Vol. 15 Issue 2 Pg. 269-72 (Apr 2006) ISSN: 0960-9776 [Print] Netherlands
• PMID: 16131469 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Anthracyclines
• Antibiotics, Antineoplastic
• Receptors, Estrogen

Topics

• Adult
• Anthracyclines (administration & dosage, therapeutic use)
• Antibiotics, Antineoplastic (administration & dosage, therapeutic use)
• Breast Neoplasms (drug therapy, metabolism, mortality, pathology)
• Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
• Disease-Free Survival
• Female
• Humans
• Italy
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent (drug therapy, metabolism, mortality, pathology)
• Receptors, Estrogen (metabolism)
• Survival Analysis