Breast cancer research and treatment
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Jan 2006
Multicenter StudyMulticenter phase II study of trastuzumab in combination with epirubicin and docetaxel as first-line treatment for HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer.
The primary objective of study is to evaluate cardiac safety of trastuzumab in combination with epirubicin and docetaxel. HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer patients were enrolled in a two-stage, multicenter phase II trial with weekly trastuzumab (4 and then 2 mg/kg) with epirubicin and docetaxel (either 75 mg/m(2)) on day 1 every 3 weeks. After eight courses of chemotherapy, trastuzumab was continued as a single agent. ⋯ The majority of cardiac events occurred late during trastuzumab alone, half were asymptomatic and all cases of CHF were resolved using cardiac therapy. Complete and partial responses were 20 and 47%, respectively, and the median time to progression was 15.7 months (95% CI, 11.6-19.0 months). In light of the cardiotoxicity experienced during this study, we currently recommend that this combination be used only in controlled clinical trials under vigilant cardiac monitoring.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Jan 2006
Incidence of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in 54 Chilean families with breast/ovarian cancer, genotype-phenotype correlations.
Our aim was to analyze the incidence of mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in 54 families with breast/ovarian cancer. Families were selected from three Institutions following the standard criteria for hereditary breast/ovarian cancer. PCR amplification of all exons was performed, followed by SSCP, heteroduplex, PTT and sequencing analysis. ⋯ Five cases of very early onset (<31 years old) breast cancer were detected. The frequencies of BRCA1 (0.074) and BRCA2 (0.13) mutations in our families is low but similar to the incidence found in other populations, like in Spain. Since is widely known that risk factors that modulate the development of breast cancer such as lifestyle risk factors, geographic location, country of origin and socioeconomic status, besides a familial history of breast cancer our findings suggest that the history of colonization and immigrations is very relevant when studying hereditary factors associated to breast cancer.