Cisplatin and platinum analogues in breast cancer

Therapy for metastatic breast cancer can palliate disease and prolong life, but cannot cure. New drugs will be required if this is to change. Cisplatin and its analogue carboplatin offer new approaches to the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Cisplatin has significant single-agent, front-line activity in metastatic breast cancer. In combination with other agents (eg, etoposide or 5-fluorouracil), it provides response rates equivalent to other front-line combinations. The activity of carboplatin as a single agent is reportedly less than that of cisplatin in single-agent trials, and few combination trials have been reported. Both cisplatin and carboplatin, when used in high doses in the setting of autologous bone marrow transplantation, appear to be useful agents for the treatment of metastatic disease. Further research is needed to define the role of these compounds in the treatment of breast cancer.