Authors: Edith A Perez
Publish Date: 2008/04/29
Volume: 114, Issue: 2, Pages: 195-
Abstract
Despite advances in treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer MBC prognosis remains poor and median survival is 2–3 years Resistance to antineoplastics mediated by many factors potentially including overexpression of drug efflux proteins or altered βtubulin isotype expression limits the effectiveness of MBC chemotherapy Capecitabine approved for anthracycline and taxaneresistant MBC has produced modest responses highlighting the need for more effective treatments for MBC resistant to multiple chemotherapeutic agents Agents with potential to reverse drug resistance have not proven effective Albuminbound paclitaxel is a formulation that may enhance delivery to tumor tissues Conversely ixabepilone an epothilone analog has been reported to have lower susceptibility to at least some mechanisms of tumor resistance and clinical activity in resistant/refractory MBC The topoisomeraseI inhibitor irinotecan also has low crossresistance with other antineoplastics and has shown some activity against refractory MBC Development of new agents and identification of genetic biomarkers in translational studies promise to improve management of patients with resistant/refractory breast cancer
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