SUMMARY: Background:
Docetaxel and
paclitaxel are among the most active substances for the treatment of
breast cancer. As both drugs are used today in adjuvant regimens, efficacy data from pivotal trials in the metastatic setting in
taxane-naive populations cannot reliably be used as references. Patients and Methods: The
Taxane Re-Challenge Cohort Study identified participants from 6 prospective (neo-)adjuvant
taxane-based studies with recurrent disease and collected data on their subsequent treatment. Out of 381 recurrent patients, 106 (27.8%) were re-challenged with a
taxane-based treatment as first- or later-line
therapy for recurrent disease. Results:
Taxanes were used as first-line
therapy in 74 patients and showed a response rate of 48.6% (including complete responses in 27.0%). The response rate was dependent on the disease-free interval (<1 year: 34.8%; 1-2 years: 42.9%; >2 years: 63.3%; p = 0.04) and visceral
metastasis (present: 62.5%; not present 32.4%; p = 0.01). Patients without visceral
metastasis and with a disease-free interval of >2 years achieved the longest overall survival.
Hormone and HER2 receptor status were not predictive; however, triple-negative
tumors responded in 50.0%. The overall response rate of later-line
taxane-based treatment was 28.2%. Conclusion: Re-challenging
taxanes appears to be effective and therefore represents a reasonable option in this population.