February 2022: Effects of capecitabine as part of neo-/adjuvant chemotherapy

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of capecitabine on disease-free survival (DFS), distant DFS (DDFS) and overall survival (OS) in early breast cancer in an individual patient data meta-analysis and to investigate whether biological subgroups exist that benefit from capecitabine treatment in the entire cohort and in subsets of patients in which capecitabine was used either in addition to another therapy or in which capecitabine was used instead of another therapy. Individual data from 15,993 patients from 13 randomized trials were analyzed.

Highlights:

• Capecitabine improved DFS when administered in addition in early breast cancer.
• OS was improved by capecitabine treatment in the overall cohort.
• Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients benefitted from capecitabine overall and as add on regarding DFS and OS.
• Patients with high-grade tumors benefitted from capecitabine.

Conclusion: Capecitabine was able to improve DFS and OS in patients with TNBC and in all patients with early breast cancer when administered in addition to systemic treatment.

an Mackelenbergh MT, Seither F, Möbus V, et al. Effects of capecitabine as part of neo-/adjuvant chemotherapy - A meta-analysis of individual breast cancer patient data from 13 randomised trials including 15,993 patients. Eur J Cancer. 2022 May;166:185-201. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2022.02.003.

• PubMed Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35305453/