The Oncologist, Vol. 11, No. 5, 534, May 2006; doi:10.1634/theoncologist.11-5-534
© 2006 AlphaMed Press
In Reply
Mary Cianfrocca
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Mary Cianfrocca, DO, Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, 676 N. St. Clair, Suite 850, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA. Telephone: 312-695-4007; Fax: 312-695-6180; e-mail: m-cianfrocca{at}northwestern.edu
Received February 20, 2006;
accepted for publication March 16, 2006.
Dr. Ferretti et al. [1] raise an interesting point in their letter commenting on our recent article, specifically regarding the potential benefit of paclitaxel administered weekly rather than every 3 weeks. As Dr. Ferretti points out, it has long been hypothesized that administering paclitaxel in a weekly fashion could lead to greater antiangiogenic and proapoptotic effects. When examined in randomized phase II and III trials, however, this hypothesis has not been fully validated. In the metastatic setting, for example, weekly paclitaxel was superior to every-3-weeks dosing in terms of response rate and time to progression but not overall survival [2]. More recently, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group 1199 trial, which compared docetaxel with paclitaxel and weekly with every-3-weeks dosing in 4,988 patients with early-stage breast cancer, did not show a statistically significant benefit for weekly taxane therapy [3]. Given these results, it is unlikely that a difference in benefit will be detected between the B-31 and N9831 trials based on taxane schedule.
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DISCLOSURE OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
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The author indicates no potential conflicts of interest.
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REFERENCES
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- Ferretti G, Felici A, Papaldo P et al. Trustuzumab combined with paclitaxel after doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide for operable HER2-positive breast cancer. The Oncologist 2006;11:533.[Free Full Text]
- Seidman AD, Berry D, Cirrincione C et al. Phase II study of weekly paclitaxel via 1-hour infusion versus standard 3h infusion every third week in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, with trastuzumab for HER2 positive MBC and randomized for trastuzumab in HER2 normal MBC. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 2004;22:6s.
- Sparano JA, Wang M, Martino S et al. Phase III study of doxorubicin –cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel or docetaxel given every 3 weeks or weekly in patients with axillary node-positive or high-risk node-negative breast cancer: results of North American Breast Cancer Intergroup Trial E1199. Available at http://www.asco.org.
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