Patient description: The patient is a 45-year-old postmenopausal woman with cytologically confirmed breast cancer. A core biopsy revealed a 3 cm invasive ductal breast carcinoma in the left upper outer quadrant. The tumor is HER2-positive and ER/PR negative. Axillary sampling revealed 5 positive lymph nodes. CXR was remarkable for metastatic lesions. The patient is using multivitamins and iron supplements. She does not smoke or consume alcohol. She is not sexually active and has no children. She is a candidate for tumor resection and agrees to do so prior to chemotherapy.

Clinical trial eligibility criteria: eligible ages (years): 18.0-999.0,  Breast Cancer Female patients greater than or equal to18 years of age. 2. Histologically confirmed invasive unilateral breast cancer (regardless of histology). 3. Early-stage breast cancer, defined as Node-positive disease: >0.2-mm metastasis in at least one lymph node (pN1mipN2b)OR Node-negative, with primary tumor >1.0 cm (T1c-T3). 4. Definitive loco-regional surgery must have been completed as specified below Patients must have undergone either breast conservation surgery (i.e., lumpectomy) or total mastectomy Surgical margins of the resected section must be histologically free of invasive adenocarcinoma and ductal carcinoma in situ Surgical margins involved with lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) will not be considered as a positive margin; therefore, such patients will be eligible for this study without additional resection Patients must have completed axillary lymph node sampling for the pathologic evaluation of axillary lymph nodes as specified below: Sentinel node biopsy and/or either lymph node sampling procedure or axillary dissection. 5. Multicentric and multifocal invasive breast cancer is eligible if loco-regional surgery has been completed as described above. 6. Patients with synchronous bilateral cancers are eligible only if All cancers are of triple-negative phenotype, defined as ER-, PR-, HER2- based on the highest stage grouping. 7. HER2 negative tumors. HER2 negativity must be confirmed by one of the following FISH-negative (FISH ratio <2.2), or  Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. 2. History of previous diagnosis of invasive breast cancer (unless treated >5 years previously with no recurrence). History of previously treated ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is acceptable. 3. Any evidence or suspicion of metastatic disease other than ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes. 4. Any tumor >=T4 (cutaneous invasion, deep adherence, inflammatory breast cancer). 5. Previous anthracycline chemotherapy. 6. Concurrent use of CYP3A4 inhibitors from 72 hours prior to initiation of study treatment until the end of treatment with ixabepilone. 7. Previous treatment for this breast cancer (including neoadjuvant chemotherapy). 8. Previous cancer (with the exception of non-melanoma skin cancer or cervical carcinoma in situ) in the past 5 years (including invasive contralateral breast cancer). 9. Peripheral neuropathy of > grade 1 per NCI CTCAE v3.0. 10. Cardiac disease, including: congestive heart failure (CHF) > Class II per New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification; unstable angina (anginal symptoms at rest) or new-onset angina (i.e., began within the last 3 months), or myocardial infarction within the past 6 months; symptomatic CHF, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or cardiac ventricular arrhythmias requiring anti-arrhythmic therapy. 11. History of hypersensitivity to CremophorEL (polyoxyethylated castor oil) or a drug formulated in CremophorEL such as paclitaxel. 12. Use of any investigational agent within 30 days of administration of the first dose of study drug. 13. Patients may not receive any other investigational or anti-cancer treatments while participating in this study. 14. Concurrent severe, uncontrolled infection or intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements. 15. Mental condition that would prevent patient comprehension of the nature of, and risk associated with, the study. 16. Inability to comply with study and/or follow-up procedures