Research on triple negative disease can benefit patients with breat cancer

Feb 1 2011

Research to develop more effective treatments for triple negative breast cancer -- a difficult disease to cure -- could someday benefit all breast cancer patients, reports Dr. Frederick C. Tucker, Jr. of Fredericksburg Oncology.

"Understanding how triple negative cancers spread in the absence of normal growth factors may give us insight into how other types of breast cancer grow and spread even after treatment," Dr. Tucker explains.

Recent research has shown that a new class of drugs, PARP inhibitors, can be combined with chemotherapy to kill more triple negative breast cancer cells. Research also indicates that platinum compounds, a type of chemotherapy not typically prescribed for breast cancer, may be useful in treating triple negative disease.

Currently, two trials offered at Fredericksburg Oncology focus on triple negative disease.

• CALGB 40603:  Pre-operative (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer involving platinum chemotherapy (carboplatin) and bevacizumab.
• NCCTG N0937:  Platinum chemotherapy (Cisplatin) and brostacillin for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer

An estimated 15 percent of breast cancers are triple negative, meaning they do not have receptors for estrogen, progesterone, and for the growth factor receptor HER2.  Breast cancer treatments such as Tamoxifen, Arimidex, Femara, and Herceptin which target these molecules are therefore not helpful against triple negative disease. Standard chemotherapies can be used in triple negative breast cancer, but they may not be as effective as they are for more common breast cancers.

SOURCE Fredericksburg Oncology