Docetaxel, Carboplatin, and Capecitabine as Treatment for Patients With Locally Advanced or Inflammatory Breast Cancer Before Surgery

Neoadjuvant (primary) chemotherapy is being used more frequently in locally advanced breast cancer in an effort to reduce the size of the primary tumor prior to surgery and to eliminate micrometastatic disease.Through previous studies, it has been shown that patients who receive neoadjuvant therapy demonstrate prolonged disease-free survival when compared to those who did not have a pCR at the time of surgery.

It is proven that docetaxel is the single most active drug in metastatic breast cancer treatment and therefore has sparked interest in its use in the neoadjuvant setting. There have been studies conducted using docetaxel either alone or in combination in this setting and in one particular study showed that patients treated with docetaxel after an anthracycline -containing regimen achieved at 34% pCR compared to only 16% with the anthracycline-containing regimen alone. This drugs low incidence of neutropenia when administered on a weekly schedule, plus its possible synergistic effects with carboplatin and capecitabine lead to its inclusion in this neoadjuvant protocol.

Carboplatin is an agent that has recently been integrated into the front line of breast cancer treatment due to its response rate and tolerability. This drug as well has warranted further investigation in the neoadjuvant setting and was combined with docetaxel in one trial for for locally advanced disease which showed a preliminary pCR of the breast and axilla of 30% and 80% respectively. Due to its tolerability, minimal toxicities, and impressive results as a single agent and in combination with docetaxel made carboplatin a reasonable drug of choice in this study.

The novel oral agent capecitabine is being used in this protocol because it has shown through study to significantly increase response rate, time to progression, and even overall survival when combined with docetaxel in the metastatic setting. As well, capecitabine behaves similarly to continuous 5-FU infusion which has shown success in several phase II neoadjuvant trials and essentially has led to its inclusion in this study. Capecitabine's anti-tumor activity, coupled with ease of administration, potential synergism with docetaxel and carboplatin, and non-overlapping toxicities justifies its inclusion in this investigational regimen.