[Impact of taxanes in the adjuvant setting of node-negative breast cancers]

The use of regimens with adjuvant taxanes reduces the risk of recurrence and improves survival in patients with node-positive breast cancer, but the use of taxanes in node-negative breast cancer is still to be defined. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of taxanes in high-risk node-negative breast cancer. Two categories of studies were reviewed: studies that evaluated both node-positive and node-negative breast cancers, and studies that included only high-risk node-negative breast cancers. Three phase-III studies that evaluated both negative and positive nodes did not show any benefit of the use of taxanes according to the node-negative subgroup analyses, versus two studies (European Cooperative Trial in Operable Breast Cancer [ECTO] et Grupo Español de Investigación del Cáncer de Mama [GEICAM]) that showed a significant difference in disease-free survival. In view of these studies, the role of taxanes in node-negative breast cancer is still controversial and the results of the ongoing trials may respond to this subject.