The combination of Ixempra® (ixabepilone) and Xeloda® (capecitabine) significantly increases progression-free survival in women with triple-negative metastatic breast cancer, according to the results of a study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium on December 12, 2008.[1]

Newswise — Findings published in the December 1, 2008, issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, show lapatinib benefits women with HER2-positive breast cancer, while women with HER2-negative breast cancer or those who express EGRF alone derive no incremental benefit. In addition, a misclassification of metastatic breast cancer patients by as much as 10 percent prevents some people from receiving optimal therapy.

Lapatinib, an oral chemotherapy agent, inhibits both HER2 and EGRF receptors, leaving unanswered questions about which patients are more likely to benefit. Researchers at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center found that HER2 amplification (“HER2-positive”), but not EGRF expression, is correlated with responsiveness to lapatinib. Women with both high and low levels of HER2 amplification respond to lapatinib. However, women with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancers do not respond.

I have metastatic breast cancer, so far in bones only. Whenever I go to see doctors other than my oncologist, they want to know about when and how often additional testing and/or scans are performed. Generally speaking, are additional testing and/or scans done in the absence of new symptoms?

SAN ANTONIO, Tex — December 15, 2008 — Ixabepilone plus capecitabine is the first combination regimen to show a statistically significant benefit in progression-free survival (PFS) for women with advanced, triple-negative-tumour, metastatic breast cancer, according to an analysis of data from 2 phase 3 trials.

SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 12 — Breast tumors that develop resistance to aromatase inhibitors may reacquire sensitivity with low-dose estradiol, according to a small study reported here.

About 30% of a small group with an aromatase inhibitor-resistant- devmalignancyeloped stable disease or better responses with low-dose estradiol, found Matthew Ellis, MB, Ph.D., of Washington University in St. Louis.

Several patients then responded to retreatment with an aromatase inhibitor, Dr. Ellis said at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

A Phase III study showed that a combination of Novartis’s drug Femara and GlaxoSmithKline’s drug Tykerb can significantly delay progression of breast cancer in some patients, said researchers on Thursday.

Encouraging doctors to use Femara, chemically known as letrozole with Tykerb, or lapatinib, means millions of dollars in potential extra sales for Glaxo, but it will depend largely on how many patients benefit.

A study involving 1,286 patients found a sub-set of women with aggressive HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer – tumors that overproduce a protein known as HER2 – gained considerably when taking both drugs together.

SAN ANTONIO, Tex — December 11, 2008 — The third-generation amino-bisphosphonate ibandronate produces a profound and sustained pain reduction in breast cancer patients without metastatic bone disease, according to an interim analysis of a large-scale noninterventional study presented at the 31st Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

The improvement in pain observed in this study occurred without the need for an increase in analgesics, and treatment was associated with a renal-safety profile comparable to that observed in randomised clinical trials.

Evidence presented on Saturday at SABCS emphasized that breast cancer metastasis is even more complicated than previously thought. However, researchers are making progress in understanding its complexities and are devising new treatments and treatment strategies based on their improved understanding.

A presentation by Larry Norton, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, highlighted how modern molecular science is challenging what is known about cancer. One new concept is the “self-seeding” of tumor cells, the idea that tumor cells that have metastasized to another site in the body can return to the primary tumor. This self-seeding by these more aggressive metastatic cells makes the primary tumor stronger by helping it develop more blood vessels and generally promoting its growth. 

SAN ANTONIO, Tex — December 15, 2008 — For patients with metastatic breast cancer who have poor performance status and who show resistance to anthracyclines and taxanes, ixabepilone plus capecitabine improves overall survival, progression-free survival, and tumour response compared with capecitabine alone, according to results of 2 large phase 3 studies, presented at the 31st Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

Symptomatic metastatic breast cancer patients with poor performance status pose a difficult therapeutic challenge, due to a worse prognosis and greater risk of toxicity from chemotherapy than patients with good performance status, stated PierFranco Conte, MD, University Hospital, Modena, Italy, speaking at a poster presentation here on December 14.

SAN ANTONIO, Tex — December 15, 2008 — Ixabepilone on top of capecitabine improves progression-free survival in women with metastatic breast cancer resistant to taxanes and resistant to or pretreated with an anthracycline, researchers reported at the 31st Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

Henri Roche, MD, PhD, Institut Claudius Regaud, Toulouse, France, and colleagues reported results from a prespecified pooled subset of resistant patients from 2 phase 3 trials in a poster presentation here on December 12.