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Triple negative breast ca with mets

owensnana
  • By owensnana
  • Posted September 28, 2009 at 10:45 pm · 12 replies
  • In Recurrence
  • Shared with the public
0 Recommendations

Any one out there who can give any advice on treatments or clinical trails as this is a new diagnosis for me.

Explore topics in this discussion:

Targeted therapy Cancer Surgery Avastin Breast cancer Taxotere Angiogenesis inhibitors Carboplatin

12 replies

sr2603

There are many good treatments out there. Check with the National Cancer Institute. I know the latest thing is ithe PARP inhibitor, but my oncolgoist has been trying to find out a study and cant find one. In the meantime, I have had great results with Abraxana/Avastin combo then Xeloda for a while. Now starting Navelbine and Avastine. Good luck,

JillAline

Ditto with the PARP inhibitors being the latest thing, but having trouble finding a trial. I'm currently undergoing treatment with Abraxane/Avastin/Zometa. Zometa is for bone mets.

Shanti

I am trying to get into a PARP Inhibitor trial for triple mets. Go to clinicaltrials.gov and type in triple negative AND breast cancer in the search box.

Good luck. I am traveling the next couple of days and will check in when I get back.

Terry

Saraj

I don't have details on the PARP Inhibitors, but also I believe there is supposed to be another Phase III Clinical Study opening up soon. Keep checking on the PARP Inhibitors. Sorry I don't have details, but I will do some research to see if anyone knows when and where. The above mentioned website is your best option, clinicaltrials.gov . I had a good run with Etoposide last year, with good results. This is an older drug, used for many cancers. For me, it was used in combo with Herceptin. Maybe it is worth asking about Etoposide as a single agent, since you are triple negative. Take care. Sara

EileenV

We have the PARP clinical trial open here at our cancer center. It uses Gemcitabine with Carboplatin along with the study drug BSI which is the PARP inhibitor. The title of the study is BiPar 20090301 and the call center number for information is 1 866 668-2232 or you can go to www.clinicaltrials.gov. We are seeing excellent results so far.

Blessings to you all
Eileen

chainsawz

I just read a post by maryk58 titled 'Triple Neg Breast cancer'. She called the pharmacutical company that creates taxotere and the representative was talking to her about the clinical trial BSI-201 for TNBC.

There's more in her post, which you can search by typing the title in the find it bar in the upper right hand side of this window. Best to you!! lisa

Stubborn

I would definitely check out the PARP trials, my oncology group is participating but unfortunately you cannot have had more than two other chemo regimens in order to qualify. I also got a second opinion from Mayo - I believe they are participating by now. Avastin and abraxene caused my lung mets to shrink but the 2nd scan showed they were active and larger. Same thing happened with Xeloda. Currently on Gemzar and Carboplatin. Haven't had scan yet so don't know if it is working or not but it seems to be what they are recommending lately for triple negative.

JillAline

I think you might have to have the BRAC1/2 gene to get on the PARP trails, but I could be wrong.

SongTree

Hi all ~
Here's the link to the Bi-Par PARP inhibitor trial that is currently recruiting in the US for those with triple neg mets. The link goes directly to the list of all study locations, but you can scroll up/down for the rest of the details :

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT00938652?term=bsi-201&rank= 7&show_locs=Y#locn

I have been in the trial for a few weeks (so far, so good :~) and was never tested for BRAC 1/2.

Best wishes,
Carol

beachgirl6

Dear Stubborn

Interested in your post. I too am triple negative and currently on gemzar and carboplatin. Did TAC with avastin first time out. All clear after surgery or so we thought. Did xeloda and avastin as an extra precaution. Finished that in March 09. Then May 09 PET showed it was in the lymph node in the supraclavicular area. NY doc says its residual from last year.

Have done 4 cycles of gem/carbo with avastin. Took a few weeks off after my Sept 28, 2009 PET was all clear. Started it up again 2 weeks ago. Doing one week on/one week off now. My concern is now all of a sudden my hair is falling out. Not sure and not getting answers on how much will be falling out and if I should be ready to loose it all again. Doc doesn't seem to care. I'm totally distressed. I want to put this behind me. Also not telling anyone but family and close friends. I want my privacy this time. Had too much to deal with last year with jerks talking behind my back about how I'm dying. So the longer I wear this wig the more I have to deal with. Just petrified now about total hair loss. Know it sounds petty.

How long have you been on gemzar/carbo>? It seems to work well with triple negative at least that's what they say. Have you had hair loss? If so, how much? Does it all go?

Thanks for the input and I'll keep my fingers crossed that you too have good scans.

Beachgirl

stuartrose

I am hopefully going to be in a clinical trial. They are (the chemo) called PARP inhibitors. It seems to be doing a lot for people with triple negative cancers, metastatic cancers and BRCA 1 and 2. I hope this helps in some way.

gpawelski

Small molecule enzyme (PARP) inhibitors may serve as a potent approach for prevention of BRCA related breast cancer. However, the use of this strategy for therapeutic treatment for hereditary breast cancers is dependent on the continued susceptibility of BRCA mutant cells to PARP inhibitors, which may be achieved by using a combination with other agents (Int J Med Sci. 2006: 3(4): 117-123).

Although the theory behind enzyme inhibitor targeted therapy is appealing, the reality is more complex. For example, cancer cells often have many mutations in many different pathways, so even if one route is shut down by a targeted treatment, the cancer cell may be able to use other routes.

In other words, cancer cells have "backup systems" that allow them to survive. The result is that the drug does not shrink the tumor as expected. One approach to this problem is to target multiple pathways in a cancer cell. Another challenge is to identify for which patients the targeted treatment will be effective (enzyme inhibitors, proteasome inhibitors, angiogenesis inhibitors, and monoclonal antibodies).

Recent studies on targeted therapy have shown that tumors can become resistant to a targeted treatment. This means that the drug no longer works, even if it has previously been effective in shrinking a tumor. To solve this problem, new drugs are being designed or combined with existing ones to target the tumor more effectively.

The cancer state is typically characterized by a signaling process that is unregulated and in a continuous state of activation. These drugs promise to become an essential part of the physician's armament against cancer, particlarly those cancers that have developed resistance to other forms of treatment.

However, setbacks with drugs that specifically target specific pathways, reflect a lack of validated biomarkers. What is needed is to test the concept of targeted cancer drugs with biomarkers as pharmacodynamic endpoints, and with the ability to measure multiple parameters in cellular screens now in hand using flow cytometry.

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