Prospective study of cyclophosphamide, thiotepa, carboplatin combined with adoptive DC-CIK followed by metronomic cyclophosphamide therapy as salvage treatment for triple negative metastatic breast cancers patients (aged <45).

BACKGROUND: The recent immunotherapy treatment on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) leads to the breakthrough assignation. In this study, we have tried the new combinations of specific chemo with DC-CIKs immunotherapy to treat those patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-three metastatic anthracyclines and taxanes pretreated TNBC younger (mean 41.5 years) patients were initially mobilized with cyclophosphamide (3 g/m(2)) for the preparation of CD34(+) peripheral blood mononuclear cells as the resources for generating DC/CIKs and marrow function supports. All cases were subsequently experienced 2 cycles of chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide 3 g/m(2), thiotepa 150 mg/m(2), and carboplatin AUC = 6, Q4w. The patients then received 3 infusions of DC-CIKs at the chemo intervals and followed by maintenance therapy with oral cyclophosphamide 50 mg daily. The endpoints were progression-free survival and overall survival. RESULTS: The partial response rate was 13.0 %, stable and progressive disease rates were 56.5 and 30.4 %, respectively. The median PFS was 13.5 months (95 % confidence interval (CI) 10.1-16.9 months) and OS was 15.2 months (95 % CI 12.5-18.1 months). The most common serious adverse events were neutropenia (100.0 %) and anemia (69.7 %) but without treatment-related mortality. CONCLUSION: These data suggested that such combination therapy model be effective and safe for younger metastatic TNBC exposure to previous anthracyclines and taxanes based adjuvant chemotherapy.