Activity of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in combination with gemcitabine in triple negative breast cancer with skin involvement: two case reports

Cancer Biol Ther. 2012 May;13(7):472-6. doi: 10.4161/cbt.19593. Epub 2012 May 1.

Abstract

Breast carcinoma (BC) is a heterogeneous disease in terms of histology, therapeutic response, dissemination patterns to distant sites and patient outcomes. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), defined by the lack of protein expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors and the absence of HER2 protein overexpression (ER-/PR-/HER2-) has significant clinical implications due to their poor prognosis and the lack of targeted agents. Skin involvement is one of the most distressing presentations of locally recurrent breast cancer and few studies have identified effective agents in this setting. In fact, the increasing use of anthracycline/taxane-based chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant settings has led to investigate new cytotoxic therapies such as the combination of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) with gemcitabine. Here, we report two cases of disseminated TNBC with extensive cutaneous metastases and a remarkable response to PLD in combination with gemcitabine. Further investigations are needed to confirm the efficacy of this regimen in skin involvement and TNBC.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Deoxycytidine / administration & dosage
  • Deoxycytidine / analogs & derivatives
  • Doxorubicin / administration & dosage
  • Doxorubicin / analogs & derivatives
  • Erythema / pathology
  • Female
  • Gemcitabine
  • Humans
  • Lymphatic Metastasis
  • Middle Aged
  • Polyethylene Glycols / administration & dosage
  • Prognosis
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / metabolism
  • Receptors, Estrogen / metabolism
  • Receptors, Progesterone / metabolism
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Receptors, Estrogen
  • Receptors, Progesterone
  • liposomal doxorubicin
  • Deoxycytidine
  • Polyethylene Glycols
  • Doxorubicin
  • Receptor, ErbB-2
  • Gemcitabine