Safety and Efficacy of Low-dose Nanoparticle Albumin-bound Paclitaxel for HER2-negative Metastatic Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background/aim: Nab-paclitaxel (nab-PTX) is an albumin-bound paclitaxel formulation. Although nab-PTX has shown superior efficacy compared to conventional paclitaxel (PTX) in metastatic breast cancer (MBC), chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) was more frequently observed in nab-PTX. In this study, we aimed to estimate the feasibility of the nab-PTX 175 mg/m²/3weeks regimen.

Patients and methods: Patients having metastatic or inoperable HER2-negative breast cancer received 175 mg/m² of nab-PTX every three weeks. The primary endpoint was safety and the secondary endpoints were response and survival.

Results: Seventeen patients were enrolled with a median age of 64 years. Ten patients had estrogen receptor positive disease and seven had triple-negative disease. CIPN was observed in seven patients (41%) however, grade 3 CIPN was only seen in one patient (6%). Objective response rate was 41% and progression-free survival was 23 weeks.

Conclusion: Nab-PTX 175 mg/m²/3wks regimen has a good safety profile and less frequent CIPN. This regimen can contribute to the strategy of MBC treatment.

Keywords: HER2-negative breast cancer; Metastatic breast cancer; chemotherapy; nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel; peripheral neuropathy; safety.