Home Neoplasma 2020 Neoplasma Vol.67, No.6, p.1409–1415, 2020

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Neoplasma Vol.67, No.6, p.1409–1415, 2020

Title: Comparison of the efficacy and safety of the EC-T (epirubicin/cyclophosphamide followed by docetaxel) and TCb (docetaxel/carboplatin) neoadjuvant regimens in early TOP2A-normal stage II-III breast cancer.
Author: W.P. LI, T. ZHU, M.X. HU, M. YANG, F. JI, H. F. GAO, C. Q. YANG, L. L. ZHANG, M. Y. CHENG, F. P. XU, K. WANG

Abstract: This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of the EC-T (4 cycles of epirubicin 90 mg/m2 + cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2, followed by 4 cycles of docetaxel 75 mg/m2) and TCb (6 cycles of docetaxel 75 mg/m2, intravenous drip (ID), day 1+carboplatin AUC 6, ID, day 1) neoadjuvant regimens in patients with TOP2A-normal stage II-III breast cancer.
This study analyzed 280 patients enrolled from three studies registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03140553, NCT03154749, NCT03507465) with early TOP2A-normal stage II-III breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, including 100 patients who received the EC-T regimen and 180 patients who received the TCb regimen. The primary endpoint was the ratio of RCB 0/1 (residual cancer burden 0/1) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The secondary endpoint was the safety of the two groups. There was no significant difference in the ratio of RCB 0/1 between the two groups (23% vs. 23.9%, p = 0.614). Among the triple-negative breast cancer patients, the efficacy did not differ between the two groups (40% vs. 32%, p = 0.52). Among the lymph node metastasis patients, the efficacy of the EC-T group was significantly better than that of the TCb group (14% vs. 2.6%, p = 0.03). Regarding the side effects, the incidence of grade 3/4 anemia was higher in the EC-T group than in the TCb group (21.0% vs. 8.33%, p = 0.002), while the incidence of grade 3/4 neutropenia was higher in the EC-T group than in the TCb group (17% vs. 14.44%, p = 0.570), and the incidence of grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia was low in each group (EC-T group:6 % and TCb group: 7.22%, p = 0.697). In the EC-T group, grade 3/4 nausea and vomiting occurred in 5 patients. The EC-T group showed a higher rate of grade 3/4 myalgia pain than the TCb group (7% and 4.44%, respectively, p = 0.363).
To conclude, the TCb regimen can be used as an alternative regimen for TOP2A-normal stage II-III breast cancer patients in neoadjuvant chemotherapy. However, in patients with node-positive tumors, EC-T is still recommended. Though no difference of grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia in two groups, grade 4 thrombocytopenia caused by the carboplatin-containing regimen should be taken seriously.

Keywords: TOP2A-normal; epirubicin; docetaxel; neoadjuvant; residual cancer burden
Published online: 13-Jul-2020
Year: 2020, Volume: 67, Issue: 6 Page From: 1409, Page To: 1415
doi:10.4149/neo_2020_200130N96


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