Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026

Anticancer Efficacy of Photodynamic Therapy with Lung Cancer-Targeted Nanoparticles
Published on: December 1, 2016
Weekly paclitaxel--an effective treatment for advanced breast cancer
Pirkko Kellokumpu-Lehtinen1, Tuija Tuunanen, Raija Asola
1Department of Oncology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland. klpike@uta.fi
Aim:
Weekly paclitaxel is widely used in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Our aim was to test its efficacy and tolerability as a second-line therapy for MBC in daily oncology practice.
Patients And Methods:
Paclitaxel (90 mg/m(2)) was given intravenously three times weekly in a 4-week cycle to 91 patients with disease progression after hormonal (42%) or cytostatic therapy (57%). The median age was 54 years; metastatic sites were the lung (39%), liver (52%) and bone (47%). 64% of patients had more than one site of metastasis.
Results:
Median time-to-progression was 7.5 months (range=6.5-8.5 months) and median overall survival time was 20.1 months (range=13.7-26.5 months). We observed 10 complete (12%) and 37 partial (43%) responses (an overall response rate of 55%). Severe side-effects were rare (grade 3-4 neutropenia 13% and septic episodes in three cases).
Conclusion:
Weekly paclitaxel was shown to be an effective and well-tolerated treatment for advanced breast cancer.
Related Concept Videos
Drugs that Stabilize Microtubules
Treatment Resistant Cancers
Targeted Cancer Therapies
There are several types of targeted therapies against specific...
Tumor Immunotherapy
Cancer Vaccines
Cancer vaccines come in two categories: preventive (prophylactic) and treatment (active). Preventive vaccines, such as the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, protect against viruses that cause certain...
Combination Therapies and Personalized Medicine
The combination of the drug acetazolamide and sulforaphane is a good example of combination therapy to treat cancer. The cells in the interior of a large tumor often die due to the hypoxic and...

