Key clinical point: In women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative ( ERBB2−) breast cancer (BC), adjuvant epirubicin+paclitaxel (EP) therapy led to favorable survival outcomes, noninferior to those with epirubicin+cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel (EC-P) therapy, and a higher frequency of adverse events (AE).
Major finding: After a median follow-up of 93.6 months, the 5-year disease-free survival with EP was noninferior to that with EC-P in the entire cohort ( hazard ratio [HR] 0.82; 95% CI 0.62-1.10; noninferior P = .001) and in patients with luminal A BC (HR 0.84; 95% CI 0.45-1.57) and luminal B BC (HR 0.70; 95% CI 0.49-1.00). The AE rate was higher in the EP group.
Study details: This phase 3 study included 813 patients with HR+/ ERBB2−, lymph node-positive, operable BC who were randomly assigned to receive adjuvant EP or EC-P.
Disclosures: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and other sources. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Yuan P et al. Effect of epirubicin plus paclitaxel vs epirubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by paclitaxel on disease-free survival among patients with operable ERBB2-negative and lymph node-positive breast cancer: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(2):e230122 (Feb 24). Doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.0122