Trials such as tnAcity will help determine a standard for patients like Rebecca B., who received appropriate anthracycline- and taxane-based therapy for her early-stage disease and unfortunately relapsed. As she is greater than 12 months from her exposure to a microtubule inhibitor, this remains a reasonable option and backbone to therapy. Given her young age and symptomatic visceral relapse, a clinical trial evaluating combination chemotherapy regimens seems reasonable and appropriate. By assessing regimens that demonstrate noncross-resistance and offer great therapeutic options for her aggressive TNBC subtype, such as tnAcity, it is hoped that a better understanding of the impact of combination chemotherapy on her disease will establish additional treatment options.
CASE 1: Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Rebecca B. is a 48-year-old premenopausal African American woman from Tampa, Florida who works as a nursing administrator for a home healthcare company.
In December 2009, patient presented to her PCP after detecting a mass in her right upper-outer quadrant on self exam; she was referred for imaging and further evaluation.
Mammography and ultrasound revealed a 2.5-cm mass
Core biopsy revealed moderately differentiated invasive ductal carcinoma that was ER-/PgR-; HER2 staining was negative by immunohistochemistry
Patient was referred for whole-breast MRI and surgical evaluation
Patient underwent a lumpectomy of the right breast with sentinel lymph node evaluation
Sentinel lymph node evaluation was positive; patient underwent axillary lymph node dissection
Malignant cells were detected in 1 sentinel and 2 axillary nodes (total 3 of 14 LN+); tumor classified as Stage 2B (T2N1M0)
Post surgery, patient received TAC chemotherapy with docetaxel (75 mg/m2 IV day 1), doxorubicin (50 mg/m2 IV day 1), and cyclophosphamide (500 mg/ m2 IV day 1, cycled every 21 days for 6 cycles), with pegfilgrastim support
Patient received radiation therapy for 6 weeks, including ipsilateral breast and regional nodes
Patient remained disease-free for approximately 3 years
In January 2013, the patient returned to her PCP complaining of intermittent right-upper quadrant pain, fatigue, and unexplained weight loss.
A subsequent CT scan revealed visceral metastases in the liver and lung; bone scan was negative
Liver biopsy was performed and specimen was sent for ER, PR, and HER2 determinations
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