Neoadjuvant Docetaxel in Treating Women With Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as docetaxel, work in different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Giving a chemotherapy drug before surgery may shrink the tumor so that it can be removed.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well neoadjuvant docetaxel works in treating women who are undergoing surgery for breast cancer.

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

* Correlate baseline and change in apoptosis and proliferation with clinical and pathological response to neoadjuvant docetaxel followed by surgery in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

Secondary

* Correlate baseline and change in fludeoxyglucose F 18 positron emission tomography uptake with clinical and pathological response in patients treated with this regimen.
* Correlate baseline and change in gene expression profiles with clinical and pathological response in patients treated with this regimen.
* Correlate baseline and change in tumor and serum proteomic patterns with clinical and pathological response in patients treated with this regimen.

OUTLINE: This is a pilot study.

* Neoadjuvant chemotherapy: Patients receive docetaxel IV over 1 hour on day 1 and pegfilgrastim subcutaneously (SC) on day 2. Treatment repeats every 14 days for 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
* Surgery: Within 2-4 weeks after the completion of 4 courses of docetaxel, patients undergo breast-conserving surgery or a mastectomy at the discretion of the treating surgeon. Patients may receive additional chemotherapy prior to surgery at the discretion of the treating physician.
* Adjuvant chemotherapy: Patients receive adjuvant chemotherapy at the discretion of the treating physician.
* Radiotherapy: Patients undergo radiotherapy after the completion of all chemotherapy at the discretion of the treating physician.
* Hormonal therapy: Patients with estrogen- and/or progesterone-positive tumors receive hormonal therapy after the completion of chemotherapy and all local therapies at the discretion of the treating physician.

Patients are followed every 6 months.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 40 patients will be accrued for this study.

Eligibility Criteria:
DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed infiltrating carcinoma of the breast

  * Unresected clinical stage T1c, T2, T3, or T4 lesion, any N
* Newly diagnosed disease

  * Diagnostic mammogram and an ultrasound of the affected breast within 3 months before study entry
  * Mammogram of the contralateral breast within 6 months before study entry
* Clinically measurable disease
* Hormone receptor status:

  * Immunohistochemical staining for estrogen and progesterone and HER2/neu receptors must be obtained on initial diagnostic material

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

* 18 and over

Sex

* Female

Menopausal status

* Not specified

Performance status

* ECOG 0-2

Life expectancy

* Not specified

Hematopoietic

* Absolute neutrophil count at least 1,500/mm\^3
* Platelet count at least 100,000/mm\^3
* Hemoglobin at least 8 g/dL

Hepatic

* Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times normal

Renal

* Creatinine no greater than 1.5 times normal

Other

* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception
* No medical condition that would put the patient at unnecessary risk of potentially serious complications during study participation

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

* Not specified

Chemotherapy

* No prior chemotherapy for current breast cancer

Endocrine therapy

* At least 1 month since prior tamoxifen or raloxifene for breast cancer prevention
* No prior endocrine therapy for current breast cancer

Radiotherapy

* No prior radiotherapy for current breast cancer

Surgery

* Not specified