Abstract PO5-16-12: EFFICACY AND TOLERABILITY OF METRONOMIC CHEMOTHERAPY (mChT) WITH CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE, METHOTREXATE AND CAPECITABINE (CMX) IN PATIENTS WITH HEAVILY PRETREATED ADVANCED BREAST CANCER. RESULTS FROM A MULTICENTER RETROSPECTIVE STUDY
Authors: Saavedra Cristina , Gion María , Cortés Alfonso , Cortez Patricia , Garrigós Laia , Pérez-García José Manuel , Antonarelli Gabriele , Cortés Javier 
Published: May 2024

BACKGROUND

mChT consists on the administration of repetitive, low doses of chemotherapy drugs and represents an attractive and active therapeutic strategy in cancer patients. Beyond the traditional cytotoxic effect of each drug on tumor cells, mChT seems to play a role in the modulation of angiogenesis and immune-regulation. mChT has demonstrated promising clinical activity and low toxicity in patients with advanced breast cancer (ABC). The aim of this study is to describe the safety and efficacy of CMX in a retrospective cohort of heavily pretreated HER2-negative ABC patients.

METHODS

This is a multicenter, retrospective study that included patients with HER2-negative ABC who received treatment with CMX (capecitabine 500 mg thrice daily, methotrexate 2.5 mg twice a week, and cyclophosphamide 50 mg daily). Demographic data, tumor characteristics, previous therapies, efficacy, and toxicity of the CMX treatment were collected. Statistical analyses were performed with Stata v.14. For standard summary statistics, mean and range for continuous data and relative and absolute frequencies for categorical data were used while for survival analysis Kaplan Meier approach was employed.

RESULTS

A total of 25 patients from 4 centers in Spain treated between October 2016 and February 2023 were included in this analysis. Median age was 63 years (range: 37-87), 68% had visceral disease, and 48% had triple-negative tumors. All patients previously received a median of 5 prior lines of systemic therapy in the metastatic setting and 80% of patients had been treated with capecitabine, most of them in the metastatic scenario with a median treatment duration of 6.2 months. Dose reductions were necessary in 5 patients and 1 patient discontinued treatment due to toxicity. No grade 3-4 hand-foot syndrome or diarrhea were reported. Objective response rate was 20.8% and disease control rate was 54.2%. Median progression-free survival was 6.1 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 95%; 4.3 - 12.4) and median overall survival was 12.3 months (95% CI; 6.8 - 24.7). Neither the number of previous lines of treatment nor the prior use of capecitabine showed a negative impact on the efficacy of CMX.

CONCLUSIONS

CMX is an effective and well-tolerated scheme of mChT and may represent an adequate treatment option for patients with heavily pretreated HER2-negative ABC, including those patients that previously received capecitabine as single agent. These encouraging data warrant further investigation.

Citation Format: Cristina Saavedra, María Gion, Alfonso Cortés, Patricia Cortez, Laia Garrigós, José Manuel Pérez-García, Gabriele Antonarelli, Javier Cortés. EFFICACY AND TOLERABILITY OF METRONOMIC CHEMOTHERAPY (mChT) WITH CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE, METHOTREXATE AND CAPECITABINE (CMX) IN PATIENTS WITH HEAVILY PRETREATED ADVANCED BREAST CANCER. RESULTS FROM A MULTICENTER RETROSPECTIVE STUDY [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO5-16-12.