Cancer Treatment Today » New Drugs http://cancertreatmenttoday.org Knowledge is Power Thu, 26 Mar 2026 23:39:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Irinotecan for brain metastases of lung and breast cancer http://cancertreatmenttoday.org/irinotecan-for-brain-metastases-of-lung-and-breast-cancer/ http://cancertreatmenttoday.org/irinotecan-for-brain-metastases-of-lung-and-breast-cancer/#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:38:40 +0000 M Levin, MD http://cancertreatmenttoday.org/?p=9820 Because irinotecan penetrates the brain-blood barrier and has an effect in primary brain cancer, there is some interest in using it for brain metastasis, especially for lung cancer and breast cancer. Most studies of irinotecan had been for brain mets of small(SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer(NSMCLC) and not breast cancer and have had mixed results. One study enrolled several different cancer types and reported complete responses with irinotecan-based chemotherapy for brain metastases in three patients with SCLC, parotid cancer, and esophageal adenocarcinoma. The combination of cisplatin, ifosfamide and irinotecan in treatment-naive patients with NSCLC led to a response rate in the brain of 50%.  A study of temozolomide (200 mg/m2) on days 1 to 5 and irinotecan (200 mg/m2) on days 1 to 5 every 4 weeks in previously untreated patients with NSCLC brain metastases reported no responses.

There are several ongoing studies for lung cancer. For breast cancer, there is also a study:  Irinotecan and Temozolomide in Treating Patients With Breast Cancer Who Have Received Previous Treatment for Brain Metastases, NCT00617539.

For Professional version see here

]]> http://cancertreatmenttoday.org/irinotecan-for-brain-metastases-of-lung-and-breast-cancer/feed/ 0 Gemcitabine for Adjuvant Therapy of Breast Cancer http://cancertreatmenttoday.org/allogeneic-transplantation-for-chronic-neutrophilic-leukemia-4/ http://cancertreatmenttoday.org/allogeneic-transplantation-for-chronic-neutrophilic-leukemia-4/#comments Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:02:12 +0000 M Levin, MD http://cancertreatmenttoday.org/?page_id=1153 Occasionally one encounters the situation of a breast cancer patient who received four cycles on Adriamycin and Cytoxan as adjuvant therapy after her surgery, but when the second part of the treatment begins, and she received Taxol or Taxotere, she has a reaction and cannot tolerate it. Some physicians than give four cycles of gemcitabine instead of a taxane. Unfortunately, this practice has not been formally studied.  Unlike for pancreatic cancer, there is not much literature regarding the use of gemcitabine for adjuvant therapy of breast cancer. One exception is the tANGo trial. The tAnGo trial was a randomized, open-label, multicenter phase III trial examining adjuvant treatment with epirubicin (Ellence)/cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan, Neosar) for four cycles followed by paclitaxel alone or combined with gemcitabine (Gemzar) for four cycles in patients with early-stage breast cancer. Gemcitabine has been included as a partner for paclitaxel in the tAnGo trial based on high response rates, including high complete response rates, observed in phase II trials of the combination in more advanced disease and based on the tolerability and safety of the combination compared with those of other taxane-containing two-drug combinations. It was not clear how much gemcitabine added to other drugs.

At this time gemcitabine is not well supported, alone or in combination for adjuvant therapy of breast cancer.

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