Research on anthracycline therapy?
Meet the Experts
Jennifer Griggs, M.D., M.P.H. is a medical oncologist specializing in the treatment of breast cancer, with a a special interest in cancer survivorship, patient-physician communication, and quality of care for women with breast cancer.
Question from Roberta: What is the latest thinking about the use of anthracycline therapy given Dennis Slamon's research?
- Answer —Jennifer Griggs, M.D., M.P.H.: We are getting smarter about how we select chemotherapy agents, not just the work of Dr. Slamon. We have longer term results of patients who were treated with a regimen that did not contain an anthracycline. There was a clinical trial with long term results presented that compared Taxotere (chemical name: docetaxel) with Cytoxan (chemical name: cyclophosphamide), compared to Adriamycin (chemical name: doxorubicin) with Cytoxan. You'll notice that the Taxotere-Cytoxan combination does not include an anthracycline. Patients who got the non-anthracycline regimen did not have a worse outcome and survival may actually have been higher in the patients who got Taxotere-Cytoxan. The work from Dr. Slamon and his group suggests that not all patients need anthracyclines, and we may be able to use characteristics of the tumor to decide who does and who does not need an anthracycline. But the medical community is not yet willing to make a flat statement against the use of anthracyclines. This class of drug, the anthracyclines, is extremely effective in treating women with metastatic breast cancer and to discard their use in earlier stage breast cancer seems premature. Nonetheless, because of the possible damaging effects to the heart of the anthracyclines, reserving the use of this type of drug for people most likely to benefit just makes sense. My guess is that within the next 2-3 years we will have a clearer idea of who is most likely to need the anthracyclines and who does not need them.
On Wednesday, December 19, 2007, our Ask-the-Expert Online Conference was called Updates from San Antonio 2007. Jennifer Griggs, M.D., M.P.H. answered your questions and shared the newest research presented at this year's San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
The materials presented in these conferences do not necessarily reflect the views of breastcancer.org. A qualified healthcare professional should be consulted before using any therapeutic product or regimen discussed. All readers should verify all information and data before employing any therapies described here.
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