Abstract
BackgroundAt present, patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have few treatment options after receiving anthracyclines and taxanes. Studies have shown that irinotecan has modest systemic activity in some patients previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of irinotecan-based chemotherapy for breast cancer patients in a metastatic setting.MethodsWe retrospectively collected the clinical information and survival data of 51 patients with MBC who received irinotecan at West China Hospital of Sichuan University. The primary endpoints were the progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), and the secondary endpoint was the objective response rate (ORR). To minimize potential confounding factors, we matched 51 patients who received third-line chemotherapy without irinotecan through propensity score matching (PSM) based on age, hormone receptor (HR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), compared their OS and PFS rates to those treated with irinotecan.ResultsFrom July 2012 to October 2020, 51 patients were treated with an irinotecan-containing regimen. The median number of previous treatment lines was 4, and a median of two previous chemotherapy cycles (ranging from 1–14 cycles) were given in a salvage line setting. The ORR was 15.7%, and the disease control rate (DCR) was 37.3%. For the irinotecan group, the median PFS was 3.2 months (95% CI 2.7–3.7), while the median OS was 33.1 months (95% CI 27.9–38.3). Univariate analysis results suggested that irinotecan could improve PFS in patients with visceral metastasis (P=0.031), which was 0.7 months longer than patients without visceral metastasis (3.5 months vs. 2.8 months). Compared to the patients who received third-line non-irinotecan chemotherapy, the irinotecan group showed a longer trend of PFS without statistical significance (3.2 months vs 2.1 months, P = 0.052). Similarly, the OS of the irinotecan group was longer than the third-line survival without irinotecan, but it was not statistically significant (33.1 months vs 18.0 months, P = 0.072).ConclusionsFor MBC patients who were previously treated with anthracyclines and/or taxanes, an irinotecan-containing regimen achieved moderate objective response and showed a trend of survival benefit, which deserves further study.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in women [1]
Visceral metastasis had occurred in more than 85% of the patients, more than 85% of the patients had previously received anthracyclines, and more than 95% had been treated with taxanes
The Progression free survival (PFS) of the irinotecan group showed a longer trend of PFS without statistical significance at 3.2 months vs 2.1 months, (P = 0.052) (Figure 1)
Summary
Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in women [1]. The available treatment options include anthracyclines, taxanes, 5fluorouracil, vinorelbine, gemcitabine [5, 8]. Those breast cancer patients with relatively long survival time often face the dilemma that no effective drugs are available. A few clinical trials have shown that irinotecan had modest systemic activity in some patients previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes. Patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have few treatment options after receiving anthracyclines and taxanes. Studies have shown that irinotecan has modest systemic activity in some patients previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of irinotecanbased chemotherapy for breast cancer patients in a metastatic setting
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