Platinum Chemo for BRCA-Associated Triple-Negative Breast Cancer?

Platinum-based agents improve pathological complete response, but how to incorporate them into neoadjuvant and adjuvant regimens is unclear.

In the prior GeparSixto trial, German investigators examined the effect of neoadjuvant platinum therapy for nearly 600 patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) or HER2-positive disease (NEJM JW Oncol Hematol Sep 2014 and Lancet Oncol 2014; 15:747). The chemotherapy backbone in the trial was weekly paclitaxel with concurrent nonpegylated liposomal doxorubicin for 18 weeks. TNBC patients received bevacizumab with or without carboplatin. Results showed that, for TNBC patients, the addition of carboplatin improved the pathological complete response (pCR) from 37% to 53%, albeit with more toxicity.

Now, the investigators examined the same dataset to determine how germline mutations in TNBC patients affect response to platinum therapy. O…

Reviewing Author

William J. Gradishar, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardLilly; AstraZeneca; Gilead

Grant/Research SupportBreast Cancer Research Foundation

Editorial BoardsClinical Breast Cancer; Oncology; Annals of Surgery; Breast Cancer Research and Treatment

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNational Comprehensive Cancer Network (Chair, Breast Cancer Panel); American Board of Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology Board)