Gemcitabine and oral vinorelbine as salvage treatment in patients with advanced anthracycline-and taxane-pretreated breast cancer

Background: Despite progress achieved with new chemotherapeutic and endocrine agents, advanced breast cancer (ABC) remains a disease with poor prognosis. We sought to determine the efficacy of gemcitabine (GC) and oral vinorelbine (VB) in heavily preatreated ABC. Patients and Methods: Patients previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes in the metastatic setting with progressive disease were eligible. Treatment consisted of VB (60 mg/m(2), orally) and GC (1000 mg/m(2) intravenous infusion), every two weeks of a 28-day cycle. Results: Thirty-one patients with ABC were enrolled. Toxicity was acceptable, mainly haematological. Three and 8 patients achieved a complete (9.6%) and partial (25.8%) response, respectively; ten patients (32.2%) had stable disease. Median time-to-progression was 5.3 months, while in responders 8.6 months. Median overall survival was 14 months. Conclusion: Oral VB and GC is an active and well-tolerated combination in anthracycline/taxane-pretreated ABC, representing an interesting option in this poor prognosis group of patients.