Adjuvant Ovarian Suppression, High-dose Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy for Premenopausal Patients with High-risk Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND: Premenopausal patients with breast cancer and more than 10 positive axillary nodes (BC>10) have a poor prognosis: In these patients the best adjuvant therapy (CT) has not yet been established. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-two BC>10 received, in sequence, the following adjuvant treatments: luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LH-RH) analog for 5 years; anthracycline-based induction chemotherapy; radiation therapy; platinum-based high-dose CT, with autologous bone marrow transplantation; immunotherapy with interleukin 2 (IL2) and 13-cis retinoic acid (RA); anastrazole given 5 years to estrogen receptor-positive patients. Primary endpoints of the study were disease-free survival (DFS) and overall (OS) survival. A secondary endpoint was toxicity. RESULTS: The median age of patients was 41 years, and the mean number of positive axillary nodes was 14. Estrogen and progesterone receptors were positive in 57% and 29% of patients respectively, while 14% of patients had triple-negative disease. With a median follow-up of 120 months for patients remaining alive at the end of study, median DFS and OS, had not yet been reached. The 20-year DFS and OS rates were 63.8%, and 81.6%, respectively. One to two years after the end of the therapy, three patients had had four full-term pregnancies. CONCLUSION: Treatment with LH-RH analog, high-dose CT, peripheral blood progenitor cells and IL2 with RA for patients with BC>10 is feasible, has moderate toxicity, while preserving ovarian function, seems to improve the expected DFS and OS for these high-risk patients.