Efficacy of lower dose capecitabine in patients with metastatic breast cancer and factors influencing therapeutic response and outcome

Objective: Capecitabine exerts considerable therapeutic efficacy in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes. Materials and Methods: In this study, the efficacy and safety of lower dose capecitabine (2000 Mg/m(2)/d) in patients with anthra-cycline- and taxane-pretreated MBC were studied with a special emphasis on the potential predictors of time to tumor progression (TTP) and response to the capecitabine treatment. Results: The overall response rate (ORR) was 17%. The median TTP was 5 months. Among various factors analyzed, univariate analysis showed that a performance status (PS) of 2 and the presence of visceral metastases were inversely correlated with TTP. Multivariate analysis showed that a poor PS score was associated with impaired TTP. Conclusions: Our study indicates that lower dose capecitabine has substantial antitumor activity and a favorable safety profile in the treatment of anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated MBC. Also, only performance score was demonstrated to be a significant parameter affecting TTP.