BACKGROUND As women in the US delay childbearing, it has been hypothesized that the incidence of breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy will increase. There are very little prospective data on the treatment of pregnant women with breast cancer with chemotherapy and even less data on the outcomes of their children who were exposed to chemotherapy in utero. METHODS Fifty‐seven pregnant breast cancer patients were treated on a single‐arm, multidisciplinary, institutional review board‐approved protocol with FAC (5‐fluorouracil, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide) in the adjuvant (n = 32) or neoadjuvant (n = 25) setting. Parents/guardians were surveyed by mail or telephone regarding outcomes of children exposed to chemotherapy in utero. RESULTS Of the 57 women, 40 are alive and disease‐free, 3 have recurrent breast cancer, 12 died from breast cancer, 1 died from other causes, and 1 was lost to follow‐up. Of the 25 patients who received neoadjuvant FAC, 6 had a pathologic complete response, whereas 4 had no tumor response to chemotherapy and eventually died from their disease. All women who delivered had live births. One child has Down syndrome and 2 have congenital anomalies (club foot; congenital bilateral ureteral reflux). The children are healthy and those in school are doing well, although 2 have special educational needs. CONCLUSIONS Breast cancer can be treated with FAC chemotherapy during the second and third trimesters without significant short‐term complications for the majority of children exposed to chemotherapy in utero. Longer follow‐up of the children is needed to evaluate possible late side effects such as impaired cardiac function and fertility. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.

Summary Introduction The primary objective of this phase II trial was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of vorinostat and bortezomib as third-line therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods Eligibility criteria included recurrent/metastatic NSCLC, having received 2 prior systemic regimens, and performance status 0–2. Patients took vorinostat 400 mg PO daily days 1–14 and bortezomib 1.3 mg/m2 IV day 1, 4, 8 and 11 in a 21-day cycle. Primary endpoint was 3-month progression free survival (3m-PFS), with a goal of at least 40 % of patients being free of progression at that time point. This study followed a two-stage minimax design. Results Eighteen patients were enrolled in the first stage. All patients had two prior lines of treatment. Patients received a median of two treatment cycles (range: 1–6) on study. There were no anti-tumor responses; stable disease was observed in 5 patients (27.8 %). Median PFS was 1.5 months, 3m-PFS rate 11.1 %, and median overall survival 4.7 months. The most common grade 3/4 toxicities were thrombocytopenia and fatigue. Two patients who had baseline taxane-related grade 1 peripheral neuropathy developed grade 3 neuropathy. The study was closed at its first interim analysis for lack of efficacy. Conclusions Bortezomib and vorinostat displayed minimal anti-tumor activity as third-line therapy in NSCLC. We do not recommend this regimen for further investigation in unselected patients.

No abstract

No abstract