Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 May 12:3:244.
doi: 10.1186/2193-1801-3-244. eCollection 2014.

Cardiac safety results from a phase II, open-label, multicenter, pilot study of two docetaxel-based regimens plus bevacizumab for the adjuvant treatment of subjects with node-positive or high-risk node-negative breast cancer

Affiliations

Cardiac safety results from a phase II, open-label, multicenter, pilot study of two docetaxel-based regimens plus bevacizumab for the adjuvant treatment of subjects with node-positive or high-risk node-negative breast cancer

Sara A Hurvitz et al. Springerplus. .

Abstract

Purpose: Adding antiangiogenic therapy to standard chemotherapy has improved response rates and progression-free survival in metastatic breast cancer (BC) patients. This phase II study evaluated cardiac safety of bevacizumab with/without trastuzumab with two docetaxel-based regimens in early BC.

Methods: 127 women with non-metastatic node-positive or high-risk node-negative BC were enrolled. Women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative BC (n = 93) received docetaxel/doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (TAC) + bevacizumab, while women with HER2-positive disease (n = 34) received docetaxel/carboplatin/trastuzumab (TCH) + bevacizumab, every 3 weeks for six cycles. Maintenance therapy with bevacizumab alone or bevacizumab plus trastuzumab, respectively, was given every 3 weeks for 52 weeks. The primary objective was to evaluate cardiac safety, as measured by the incidence of ≥ grade 3 clinical congestive heart failure (CHF); the secondary objective was assessment of safety and toxicity.

Results: At least one cardiac adverse event (AE; CHF, cardiomyopathy, or left ventricular dysfunction) was reported in 26.1% of TAC (n = 92) and 17.6% of TCH subjects (n = 34); there were no cardiac deaths. ≥ Grade 3 clinical CHF was observed in 4.3% in the TAC plus bevacizumab stratum and 0% in the TCH plus bevacizumab stratum. A ≥ grade 3 treatment-emergent AE (any kind) related to study treatment was observed in 59.8% in the TAC with bevacizumab and 52.9% in the TCH plus bevacizumab stratum.

Conclusion: Adding bevacizumab to a docetaxel-based regimen with trastuzumab did not appear to increase cardiotoxicity.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00446030, registered March 8, 2007.

Keywords: Adverse events; Anthracyclines; Antiangiogenic; Congestive heart failure; Trastuzumab.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study design. Abbreviations: HER2/neu = human epidermal growth factor receptor-2; TAC = docetaxel, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide; TCH = docetaxel, carboplatin, trastuzumab.

Similar articles

Cited by

  • Cardiotoxicity of breast cancer drug treatments.
    Haque M, Atallah N, Patke R, Harris AE, Woodcock CL, Varun D, Thompson RL, Jackson-Oxley J, Okui CH, Dean A, Alsaleem M, Rakha E, Irshad S, Davis MB, Jeyapalan JN, Mongan NP, Rutland CS. Haque M, et al. Transl Oncol. 2025 May;55:102352. doi: 10.1016/j.tranon.2025.102352. Epub 2025 Mar 15. Transl Oncol. 2025. PMID: 40090070 Free PMC article.
  • Molecular targeted therapy for the treatment of gastric cancer.
    Xu W, Yang Z, Lu N. Xu W, et al. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2016 Jan 4;35:1. doi: 10.1186/s13046-015-0276-9. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2016. PMID: 26728266 Free PMC article. Review.

References

    1. Brufsky AM, Hurvitz S, Perez E, Swamy R, Valero V, O’Neill V, Rugo HS. RIBBON-2: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy for second-line treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative metastatic breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2011;29(32):4286–4293. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2010.34.1255. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Choueiri TK, Mayer EL, Je Y, Rosenberg JE, Nguyen PL, Azzi GR, Bellmunt J, Burstein HJ, Schutz FA. Congestive heart failure risk in patients with breast cancer treated with bevacizumab. J Clin Oncol. 2011;29(6):632–638. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2010.31.9129. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Citron ML, Berry DA, Cirrincione C, Hudis C, Winer EP, Gradishar WJ, Davidson NE, Martino S, Livingston R, Ingle JN, Perez EA, Carpenter J, Hurd D, Holland JF, Smith BL, Sartor CI, Leung EH, Abrams J, Schilsky RL, Muss HB, Norton L. Randomized trial of dose-dense versus conventionally scheduled and sequential versus concurrent combination chemotherapy as postoperative adjuvant treatment of node-positive primary breast cancer: first report of Intergroup Trial C9741/Cancer and Leukemia Group B Trial 9741. J Clin Oncol. 2003;21(8):1431–1439. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2003.09.081. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Davidson NE, Gelmann EP, Lippman ME, Dickson RB. Epidermal growth factor receptor gene expression in estrogen receptor-positive and negative human breast cancer cell lines. Mol Endocrinol. 1987;1(3):216–223. doi: 10.1210/mend-1-3-216. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Epstein M, Ayala R, Tchekmedyian N, Borgstrom P, Pegram DJ, Slamon DJ. HER-2/neu-overexpressing human breast cancer xenografts exhibit increased angiogenic potential mediated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2002;76(suppl. 1):S143.

Associated data