During the Experts Meeting on Lung Cancer, participants emphasized the usefulness of erlotinib as second-line therapy for lung cancer. They noted that, although there are no comparative studies, erlotinib could be as effective as docetaxel and pemetrexed in second-line therapy. Regarding the toxicity profile of each of these drugs – one of the key issues considered in the meeting – specialists pointed out how important it is to clearly identify existing differences in this issue. Each drug has different degrees of toxicity, and this information is crucial at the time of choosing the therapeutic regimen. Erlotinib treatment could be an effective option for second-line therapy.

With the object of proving whether seqeuntial or alternate forms of chemotherapy would be advantageous one over the other in treating advanced breast cancer and with the purpose of evaluating two different anthracyclines at equimolecular doses in the above-mentioned alternating regimens, 250 patients who had received no prior chemo- or hormonotherapy were entered in a prospective randomized trial. Group A was administered 4-epiadriamycin and cyclophosphamide for 8 courses, followed by 6 cycles of CMF, and medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) from the beginning of therapy until progression. In group B, adriamycin + cyclophosphamide were alternated with CMF every two courses until 14 cycles were completed. Group C received 4'-epiadriamycin + cyclophosphamide alternated with CMF for 14 courses. In groups B and C, MPA was administered as in group A. Two hundred and twenty-four patients were evaluated. CR+PR were observed in 55.8 % of group A, 43.4 % of group B, and 46.4 % of group C. Median duration of responses was 16 months (m) in group A, 13 m in group B and 20 m in group C., and median survival (CR + PR) was 16.5 m in group A, 16 m in group B and 24 m in group C. There were no statsitically significant differences among the three groups in terms of response rate, duration of response and survival; furthermore, toxicity was moderate in all groups. At equimolecular doses there were no differences between adriamycin and epirubicin in the alternating schedules.

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La importancia del cáncer de mama para la salud pública se pone de manifiesto por las tasas de incidencia y de mortalidad registradas en las últimas décadas. Se puede apreciar el incremento de dichas tasas tanto en países desarrollados como en áreas urbanas de países en desarrollo.Numerosos estudios han mostrado la importancia de los estrógenos en la patogenia del cáncer de mama. Por otra parte, es conocida su importancia en el pronóstico y en el tratamiento de la expresión de receptores hormonales en las células tumorales en la mayoría de las pacientes, especialmente en la posmenopausia. Existen diversas intervenciones de terapia endocrina para el cáncer de mama. Todas ellas aplican uno de dos mecanismos: 1) inhibir o disminuir la producción (privación) de estrógenos, o 2) bloqueo de la interacción del estrógeno con su receptor.A Castagnari es oncólogo, ex director