Neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens for triple-negative breast cancer: Insights from network meta-analysis.

Abstract

e12635 Background: The best regimen for neoadjuvant chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is unknown. Recent studies have shown promising data that adding carboplatin improves the rate of pathological complete response (pCR) in TNBC). Therefore, we performed a network meta-analysis to define the overall most effective neoadjuvant systemic therapy for TNBC. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE from inception to December 2019 for studies comparing the efficacy of different neoadjuvant regimens in patients with TNBC. We performed a network meta-analysis comparing the regimens in the selected studies using the random-effects model. We focused on anthracycline (A), bevacizumab (B), everolimus (E), and platinum salts (Pl) because these are the medications commonly added to taxane based regimens. All studies contained a taxane regimen. We analyzed the rate of pCR (ypT0/is, N0) and the incidence of grade 3-4 neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, nausea/vomiting, and diarrhea. Results: We identified a total of 13 randomized control trials for this analysis. We compared eight different classes of regimens. We found that regimens containing Pl were significantly superior to Pl non-containing regimens for the rate of pCR. (risk ratio (RR) for pCR [95% confidence interval (CI)]: 1.66 [1.19-2.31], 1.37 [1.14-1.64], and 1.36 [1.14-1.62] for no medications of special interest vs Pl, A vs A+Pl, and A+B vs A+B+Pl, respectively). Regimens containing B were associated with a significantly better rate of pCR. (RR for pCR [95% CI]: 1.24 [1.06-1.46] and 1.23 [1.01-1.51] for A vs A+B and A+Pl vs A+B+Pl, respectively) In contrast, adding A into the regimen did not improve the rate of pCR. In the safety analysis, regimens containing Pl were associated with a significantly higher incidence of grade 3-4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. Regimens containing B showed a higher incidence of grade 3-4 nausea/vomiting, and diarrhea. Conclusions: For TNBC, adding Pl or B into the neoadjuvant therapy regimen brings about a higher pCR rate, though they are associated with an increase in hematologic or gastrointestinal complications. The benefit of adding A to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimen for TNBC is not apparent.