Gemcitabine plus Paclitaxel as First-Line Chemotherapy for Patients with Advanced Breast Cancer

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the efficacy and tolerability of gemcitabine and paclitaxel as first-line treatment in advanced breast cancer. Methods: Patients with histologically confirmed metastatic or metastatic plus locally advanced breast cancer received gemcitabine 1,200 mg/m² on days 1 and 8 and paclitaxel 175 mg/m² on day 1 every 21 days for 8 cycles. Results: From December 1999 to August 2001, 45 patients, with a median age of 53.5 years (range, 22–77), received a total of 260 cycles. All were assessable for response and toxicity. Twenty-seven patients had prior adjuvant therapy. Hormonal receptor status was positive in 31.1% and negative in 40.0% of patients. Main metastatic sites included soft tissue (62.2%) and lung (53.3%). The objective response rate was 66.7%; complete response, 22.2%; partial response, 44.4%; stable disease, 15.6%; progressive disease, 17.8%. Median duration of response was 18 months and median time to tumor progression was 11 months. Grade 3/4 leukopenia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia developed in 13.3% of patients, and 15.5% developed grade 3/4 mucositis. No treatment-related deaths occurred. Median overall survival was 19 months. Conclusion: Gemcitabine plus paclitaxel is an active combination with a favorable toxicity profile as first-line treatment for patients with advanced breast cancer.

The Efficacy and Safety of Gemcitabine Plus Paclitaxel Compared to Doxorubicin Plus Cyclophosphamide as Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Locally Advanced Breast Cancer

“…Two patients developed grade 4 neutropenia and one patient grade 4 thrombocytopenia [12]. The safety and effectiveness of combination chemotherapy with GP was confirmed in other phase II studies [16][17][18].…”

Phase II Study of Gemcitabine plus Cisplatin in Patients with Anthracycline- and Taxane- Pretreated Metastatic Breast Cancer

“…For the use of gemcitabinedocetaxel, an RR of 36∼79% and a TTP of 7∼8 months for first-line to third-line treatment have been reported (21)(22)(23). For the use of gemcitabine-paclitaxel, an RR of 55∼66.7% and a TTP of 11 months for first-line to third-line treatment have been reported (24,25). For the use of gemcitabine-paclitaxel-trastuzumab, an RR of 52.5% and a TTP of 13.7 months for first-line treatment for HER2-positve cases have been reported (20).…”

Role of Gemcitabine in the Treatment of Advanced and Metastatic Breast Cancer

“…Two additional studies of the combination as first-line therapy for metastatic disease [51,52] yielded response rates of 55 and 42%, respectively, using identical 3-week regimens of 1,200 mg/m 2 gemcitabine and 175 mg/m 2 paclitaxel. Responses were durable with median response durations of about 1 year or better (19 and 11.5 months, respectively).…”