Comparison of CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil) with a rotational crossing and a sequential intensification regimen in advanced breast cancer: a prospective randomized study

Abstract

The Italian Oncology Group for Clinical Research tested two experimental chemotherapy strategies in an attempt to improve the results achievable with conventional chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer. One hundred sixty-two patients were randomly allocated as follows: (a) to the conventional cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy regimen (CMF); (b) to a rotational crossing program (ROT-CROSS); or (c) to a sequential intensification program (SEQ-INT). The same single agents (C, M, F, cisplatin, etoposide, and doxorubicin) were administered in both experimental arms, but following a different policy. The SEQ-INT program induced a significantly higher complete response (32% vs. 6%, p = 0.0006) and objective response rate (72% vs. 42%, p = 0.0047) than CMF did. There were no differences in survival between CMF and either experimental arm. A number of side effects were significantly more with both experimental chemotherapies than with CMF, but the treatments were generally tolerable. Although some caution is required when interpreting a significant advantage found between an entire chemotherapeutic strategy and a single conventional combination, this study documents the potential therapeutic advantage of administering different sequential chemotherapies, and changing each at the time of maximum result without waiting for a progression. The impressive cytoreductive effects achievable with this policy (SEQ-INT) in metastatic disease merit further investigation in the adjuvant setting.