OLD AND NEW ANTHACYCLINES: A STILL VALID OPTION IN BREAST CANCER TREATMENT True: Clara Natoli

Anthracyclines are actually the most discussed drugs in breast cancer treatment

Anthracyclines FarmItalia Research developed anthracyclines in 1960s. They are derivatives of soil microbe, Streptomyces peucetius (rhodomycin), taken at Castel Del Monte, near Andria. Doxorubicin was approved by FDA in The first trial of epirubicin in humans was published in Upjohn applied for approval by the FDA in node- positive breast cancer in 1984, but was turned down because of lack of data. However, epirubicin was licensed for use in Europe from around this time. Patent protection for epirubicin expired in August 2007.

Anthracyclines Proposed Mechanisms of Action Inhibition of DNA and RNA synthesis by multiple mechanisms, including: Inhibition of topoisomerase II preventing the relaxing of supercolied DNA, thus blocking trascription and replication Single strand DNA breakage Intercalation between DNA base pairs Inhibition of proteasome function Chelation of divalent cations Production of iron-mediated free O2 radicals able to damage DNA and cell membranes Inhibition of angiogenesis Qu et al, 2001 Anthracyclines have multiple mechanisms of action: Topo II  is only one of them …

What is the role of anthracyclines in the adjuvant chemotherapy of primary breast cancer?

Oxford Overview, 2000 Anthracyclines vs. CMF unselected node positive breast cancer Absolute differences in mortality is 3% at 5 years and 4% at 10 years

Role of the Taxanes O O O NH OH HO O OH H H O O O O O O O NH OH O O O O O O O H O Docetaxel Paclitaxel O

EBCTCG Meta - analysis Breast cancer mortality Anthra 31.0% Taxane 25.9% % + SE 10-y gain 5.1% p < y gain 4.3% p < y gain 4.2% p < Years CMF 31.3% Anthra 27.0% Control 36.4% CMF 32.2% Peto et al No Chemo < CMF < Anthra < Taxanes

Even if taxanes are superior to anthracyclines, it makes sense to try to combine them with anthracyclines, since neither group of drugs is effective in more than a minority of breast cancer patients  their mechanisms of action are different  they show noncross-resistance

Cochrane Review 2008 A taxane containing regimen should be considered for women with moderate to high risk of recurrence following assessment of their individual risk of recurrence and comorbidities Taxanes for adjuvant treatment Taxanes for adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer

Summary from ASCO 2009

Safety of Anthracyclines: Cardiotoxicity Clinical CHF is rare (< 1%) In EBCTCG analysis, mortality from heart disease was 0.08% vs 0.06% per year [1] Decrease risk by screening patients 1. EBCTCG. Lancet. 2005;365:

Should we use Anthracyclines in the Adjuvant Therapy of Breast Cancer according to HER2 and Topo2A expression?

We must still identify reliable predictors of benefit and resistance to individual drugs to reach the objective of personalized therapy

We believe that … … anthracyclines should still be used in adjuvant chemotherapy (including HER2- positive tumors) because there is insufficient evidence to date supporting the efficacy of alternative regimens

The Role of Anthracyclines from Adjuvant to Metastatic from Metastatic to Adjuvant

Do anthracyclines work in the metastatic setting?

Principles of Chemotherapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer EFFICACYTOXICITY (RR, TTP, OS) (QoL, non-Hem and Hem. toxicity) Evaluation of the Therapeutic Index Not cure in the vast majority of patients

The Goals o improve quality of life o prolong life o prevention and palliation of symptoms o cure Principles of Chemotherapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer o prolong life o improve quality of life

Selection of Chemotherapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer Risk of recurrence or death Benefit from treatment Toxicities Tumor biology Comorbidities Optimal treatment selection

Cardiotoxocity is a major clinical handicap limiting the cumulative dose of doxorubicin and epirubicin in the metastatic setting

Anthracyclines as single agents or in combination chemotherapy? Selection of Chemotherapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer

Efficacy data from randomized studies with mandated crossover in the monotherapy arm Cardoso et al, J Natl Cancer Inst 2009;101:1174–1181 * * * * *

… conventional anthracyclines are limited by cardiac toxicity  PLD has comparable efficacy and significantly improved safety profile compared with conventional doxorubicin in MBC 1 ◦ Significantly less cardiotoxicity ◦ Less nausea/vomiting, alopecia, and myelosuppression Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin (PLD) 1 O’Brien et al. Ann Oncol. 2004;15:

Sparano, J. A. et al. J Clin Oncol; 27: CONSORT diagram International, phase III randomized study 751 patients were randomly assigned to receive either : docetaxel 75 mg/m 2 docetaxel 75 mg/m 2 (n = 373) or PLD 30 mg/m 2 followed by docetaxel 60 mg/m 2 PLD 30 mg/m 2 followed by docetaxel 60 mg/m 2 every 21 days (n = 378) and continued until disease progression or prohibitive toxicity.

Sparano, J. A. et al. J Clin Oncol; 27: Time to progression for PLD plus docetaxel and docetaxel groups

Adverse Events

there is the agreement that, at least in the presence of: Even if no consensus exists and both combination and sequential single-agent chemotherapy are reasonable options as first-line systemic therapy, there is the agreement that, at least in the presence of: o rapid clinical progression o life-threatening visceral metastases o the need for rapid symptom and/or disease control combination chemotherapy, possibly including anthracyclines and taxanes, should be the first choice Cardoso et al, J Natl Cancer Inst 2009;101:1174–1181 European School of Oncology - Metastatic Breast Cancer Task Force -

Summary Anthracycline-based regimens are still a standard of care for breast cancer treatment Retreatment of MBC is effective and PLD is rational choice for retreatment of patients who have received previous anthracyclines There is currently insufficient evidence: To replace anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy with non-anthracycline-based regimens To support the use of biomarkers HER2 and Topo II to select chemotherapy regimens