HDAC Inhibitor Studied in Treatment of Advanced Breast Cancer
Posted: Tuesday, November 27, 2018
According to a new study, the addition of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor chidamide to endocrine therapy seems to improve progression-free survival in women with advanced breast cancer. Prior studies using HDAC inhibitors have yielded positive results in patients with early-stage breast cancer, but these more recent findings show activity in advanced disease. Zefei Jiang, MD, of the 307th Hospital of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Beijing, China, and colleagues presented their phase III trial results at the 2018 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Munich (Abstract 283O_PR).
“This is the first phase III trial to demonstrate that an HDAC inhibitor plus endocrine blockade improves progression-free survival compared to endocrine blockade alone in hormone receptor–positive advanced breast cancer patients who have progressed after prior endocrine therapy,” commented Dr. Jiang in an ESMO press release.
In this multicenter, ongoing study, 365 postmenopausal women were enrolled. Patients were randomly assigned to receive chidamide plus exemestane or placebo plus exemestane. The median progression-free survival was 7.4 months for patients receiving chidamide versus 3.8 months those receiving the placebo. The most common treatment-related adverse events were reduced blood levels of neutrophils (50.8% vs. 2.5%), platelets (27.5% vs. 2.5%), and leukocytes (18.8% vs. 2.5%). No treatment-related deaths have been reported.
“The treatment regimen was generally well tolerated, and toxicities were similar to those previously observed with chidamide monotherapy. The most common adverse events were blood disorders, which were mostly asymptomatic and manageable,” concluded Dr. Jiang.