Researchers demonstrated the benefits of adding an anthracycline to taxane chemotherapy in patients with early-stage breast cancer, at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. 

Given the variability of previous findings, they performed a patient-level meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials initiated prior to 2010 and data from 16,500 patients.  

Patients treated with a combination of an anthracycline and taxane chemotherapy had breast cancer recurrence rates on average, 18% lower than those of their counterparts treated with a taxane schedule without an anthracycline (relative risk 0.82; p<0.0001).  

This, the researchers said, equated to a 3.1% absolute reduction in 10-year recurrence in patients treated with both anthracycline and taxane chemotherapy. Similarly, the 10-year risk of death from breast cancer was 1.8% lower among patients receiving an anthracycline in addition to taxane chemotherapy (RR 0.85; p=0.006). 

The proportional reduction in breast cancer recurrence was greatest in trials where a concurrent anthracycline plus docetaxel-cyclophosphamide compared to docetaxel-cyclophosphamide alone (RR 0.66; p<0.0001)—where the only difference between arms was the addition of anthracycline.  

Subgroup analyses found that the benefits associated with anthracycline plus taxane chemotherapy persisted throughout years 0-1, 2-4, and 5-9.  

Interestingly, the meta-analysis also found comparable – and highly significant – proportional reductions in the recurrence of both estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative disease. 

On the other hand, the relative risk for recurrence did not differ significantly in any of the other pre-specified subgroups, including age, nodal status, tumor diameter, tumor grade, and HER2 status.  

Finally, the addition of anthracycline to taxane chemotherapy did not result in significant increases in deaths from cardiovascular disease or leukemia among treated patients, though the researchers noted that longer follow-up will help to fully assess these risks. 

Given these results, the researchers are optimistic about the benefits of combination therapy with anthracycline and taxane chemotherapy. 


Reference:  
Braybrooke J, et al. GS2-06: Taxane with anthracycline versus taxane without anthracycline: An individual patient-level meta-analysis of 16,500 women with early-stage breast cancer in 13 randomized trials. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. December 7-10, 2021. 
 
Disclosures: Some authors declared financial ties to drugmakers. See full study for details. 

By Michael Vlessides, /alert Contributor