Correlate BRCA1 Protein Expression With Response to DNA Damaging Chemotherapy

Inclusion Criteria:

Metastatic breast cancer and have formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded primary tumor available for testing BRCA1 protein expression
Adults over 18 years of age
Have resolution of all acute toxic effects of any prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy to NCI CTC grade ≤ 1 prior to study registration.
Be informed of the investigational nature of this study and provide written informed consent in accordance with institutional and federal guidelines prior to study specific screening procedures
Be willing and able to comply with the treatment plan, scheduled clinic visits, laboratory and oncological tests and other study procedures
Have a ECOG performance status of 0 - 2
Measurable disease by CT by RECIST 1.1 to evaluate response
Adequate bone marrow function defined as platelets 100 X 109 cells/L, neutrophils 1.5 x 109 cells/L, white blood cells (WBC) 3.0 x 109 cells/L and a hemoglobin 90 gm/L
Creatinine < 1.5 mg/dl or creatinine clearance > 40 ml/min
Liver function tests (AST and or ALT) should be 2 x upper limit of normal (ULN, defined as per laboratory where blood testing is done), total bilirubin 1.5 x ULN (except for patients with liver metastases, ALT and/or ALT 5 times the upper limit of normal is accepted)

Exclusion Criteria:

Myocardial infarction within 6 months of registration
Brain metastases unless documented to be controlled post completion of local therapy (surgery and/or radiation therapy) for at least four weeks prior to registration
Pregnant or breast feeding women. Women with child bearing potential must use effective measures to prevent pregnancy while receiving pegylated liposomal doxorubicin
Have a concurrent active non-breast malignancy except for non-melanoma skin cancer
Her2 positive tumors as defined by FDA guidelines(3+ immunohistochemical staining, defined as uniform, intense membrane staining of more than 10% of invasive tumor cells, and for cases with 2+ staining showing gene amplification by FISH, expressed as a ratio of more than 2 when comparing HER-2 gene and chromosome 17 fluorescent signals)