Current and Potential Chemotherapeutic Agents Used for Induction Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Breast Cancer

Abstract

A substantial proportion of breast cancers are large (<3 cm) or locally advanced (T3, T4, TXN2) at the time of initial presentation. The therapeutic goals that must be achieved in patients with such cancers are to obtain adequate local disease control so that surgery can be performed and to abolish occult distant metastases therefore improving survival. Over the past three decades conventional adjuvant chemotherapy regimens have been employed pre-operatively (neo-adjuvant or primary chemotherapy) to achieve these goals. Studies have now shown that the survival of patients who receive neo-adjuvant chemotherapy is comparable to that of those who receive the same chemotherapy regimen following surgery. It is also apparent that although clinical tumour response rates to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy may be high there is considerable scope for improvement in the corresponding pathological tumour response. Furthermore, data from major studies that have comprehensively evaluated the use of pre-operative chemotherapy now indicates that the pathological response of breast cancers following treatment is of far greater prognostic importance than the clinical response. Recent interests has focoused, therefore, on the implementation of more prolonged or dose intensive chemotherapy regimens with the aims of improving pathological response to treatment and ultimately overall survival. Newer antineoplastic agents are also becoming available that may be used alone or in combination with conventional therapies in order that tumor response may be improved. This review describes current and potential therapeutic agents that may be used for the induction therapy of breast cancer.

Anticancer &#945;-Helical Peptides and Structure / Function Relationships Underpinning Their Interactions with Tumour Cell Membranes

“…However, at the concentrations required to control tumour growth, most chemotherapeutic *Author correspondence to this author at the Faculty of Science, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, PR1 2HE, England, UK; Tel: +1772 893481; Fax: +1772 894981; E-mail: daphoenix@uclan.ac.uk agents also affect healthy cells thereby causing undesirable side effects [7]. Treatment is further complicated by the fact that in the long term, tumours can gradually acquire resistance to therapeutic drugs.…”

Combination therapy for treating breast cancer using antiestrogen, ERA-923, and the mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor, temsirolimus

“…Although there is a variety of chemotherapeutic treatments for breast cancer, the disease is frequently marginally responsive, especially in the later stages (Smith et al 2000, Bergh et al 2001, Kim et al 2001. The growth of some human breast cancer cells is under hormonal control.…”

Synthesis and Anticancer Activity of 2’-hydroxy-2-bromo-4,5-dimetoxychalcone Against Breast Cancer (MCF-7) Cell Line

“…There are many diagnostic methods and therapeutic approaches for cancer including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and biologycal therapy (Kameshwaran, Suresh, Arunachalam, Kanthlal, & Mohanraj, 2012). Nowdays, chemotherapeutic agents is one of the notable healing approaches for several cancer types, e.g breast (Smith, Heutcheon, & Heys, 2000). The problem of chemotherapeutical is able to kill cancer cell but also kill normal cells around (Ketabforoosh, Kheirollahi, Safavi, & Esmati, 2014).…”