Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy with Concurrent Letrozole for Estrogen Receptor-Positive and HER2-Negative Breast Cancer: An Open-Label, Single-Center, Nonrandomized Phase II Study (NeoCHAI)

TL;DR

This study tested adding letrozole to standard chemotherapy for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer but found no significant improvement in complete tumor response, though overall response improved.

Contribution

The study evaluates the safety and efficacy of combining letrozole with neoadjuvant chemotherapy in HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer patients.

Findings

Adding letrozole did not significantly increase the pathologic complete response rate.

The overall response rate was 83% with acceptable safety.

3-year disease-free survival was 87% and overall survival was 98%.

Abstract

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the standard of care for locally advanced breast cancer; however, it is less effective in hormone receptor (HR)-positive tumors. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of adding an aromatase inhibitor to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II or stage III HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Adding letrozole to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy did not significantly increase the pathologic complete response (pCR) rate; however, it enhanced the overall response rate with acceptable safety. Further research is necessary to determine the optimal neoadjuvant therapy for HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer to address the ongoing unmet need compared with recent advances in clinical outcomes observed in HER2-positive and triple-negative subtypes.

The role of combining neoadjuvant endocrine therapy with conventional chemotherapy remains unclear; therefore, we conducted an open-label, single-center, nonrandomized phase II trial to assess the effect of this combination. Patients with previously untreated stage II or III HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer received concurrent letrozole 2.5 mg with standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was pathologic complete response (pCR) at the time of surgery. We used Simon’s minimax two-stage design; a pCR rate > 6% was necessary at the first stage to continue. Between November 2017 and November 2020, 53 women were enrolled in the first stage of the trial. Their median age was 49 years (range, 33–63), and 60% of them were premenopausal. Subsequently, 66% and 34% of patients with clinical stages II and III, respectively, were included; 93% had clinically node-positive disease. Two patients (4%) achieved pCR after neoadjuvant chemo–endocrine treatment, which did not satisfy the criteria for continuing to the second stage. The overall response rate was 83%. During the median follow-up of 53.7 months, the 3-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates were 87% and 98%, respectively. Neutropenia was the most common grade 3/4 adverse event (40%), but rarely led to febrile neutropenic episodes (4%). Myalgia (32%), nausea (19%), constipation (17%), heartburn (11%), oral mucositis (9%), and sensory neuropathy (9%) were frequently observed, but classified as grade 1 or 2. No deaths occurred during preoperative treatment. The addition of letrozole to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy was safe and beneficial in terms of overall response rate, but did not provide a higher pCR rate in locally advanced HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Further research is needed to enhance neoadjuvant treatment strategies for this cancer subtype.

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