Taxotere and Carboplatin for Prostate Cancer
Chemotherapy, especially with drugs form the taxane family, is the recommended option once hormonal therapy or vaccine becomes ineffective for prostate cancer. First line treatment of Taxotere has been used for years and a similar drug, cabazitaxel, has recently been approved for second line use. It is always worthwhile to investigate combination. Taxanes combine well with platin type drugs in general. Combinations of are usually more toxic but they can also be more effective than single drugs by themselves.
Several studies have found activity for Taxotere and carboplatin combinations.
The recent review of various taxane combination by Oh et al concluded: “More recent Phase II studies of carboplatin suggested a moderate level of clinical and palliative activity when it was used as a single agent. However, when carboplatin was combined with a taxane and estramustine, high response rates were observed in several recent clinical trials. ….Several preliminary reports suggested that carboplatin and oxaliplatin may have activity as second-line chemotherapy. Platinum chemotherapy drugs historically have been considered inactive in HRPC, although a review of the data suggested otherwise. Carboplatin, in particular, induced very high response rates when it was combined with estramustine and a taxane, but it also appeared to have activity in patients who progressed after docetaxel.”
Read the Professional version here.