The Breast Cancer Treatment News
Initial study results of NSABP B-31, a breast cancer treatment study conducted by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) was released in April 2005. Data from the B-31 study have been analyzed along with the data from another similar national trial (NCCTG N9831) conducted by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG). Both studies examined the value of 1 year of trastuzumab (Herceptin®) starting at the same time as the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel. Several thousand women were enrolled in these studies, which began in 2000.
Each of the committees responsible for protecting the interests of women enrolled in each of these studies has reviewed these results independently. Both recommended to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the organization responsible for these studies, that all study participants and their doctors be told the results. The NSABP and the NCCTG have agreed with their recommendation, and the results have been made public. The committees also recommended closing the two studies to further accrual, which means that no more women will be able to join the studies after the end of April 2005.
The data from these studies showed very positive results. The studies showed that by the time of the committees’ reviews, trastuzumab had improved the chance of being alive and free of cancer by 52%. This means that these studies proved that when trastuzumab is given with chemotherapy, breast cancer returns much less often than it does when chemotherapy is given without trastuzumab. The Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine was an active participant in this ground-breaking study which will change breast cancer management for HER-2 overexpressing breast cancers. This positive study mirrors our earlier with preoperative trastuzumab study which was published this month in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
For more information on this discovery visit the NSABP's press release and web site.