Silibinin administration improves hepatic failure due to extensive liver infiltration in a breast cancer patient

Silibinin exerts hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects. Several pre-clinical studies have shown anti-tumoral activity of silibinin in breast cancer cell lines.

We present the case of a heavily pre-treated breast cancer patient with extensive liver infiltration. The patient presented with progressive liver failure despite several chemotherapy treatments, including paclitaxel, capecitabine and vinorelbine. After four cycles of a fourth-line chemotherapy treatment consisting of carboplatin and gemcitabine, the patient's liver blood test results deteriorated to life-threatening levels. The compassionate use of Legasil®, a new commercially available nutraceutical product containing a new silibinin formulation, was offered to the patient according to article 37 of the 2013 Declaration of Helsinki. After treatment initiation, the patient presented clinical and liver improvement, which permitted the patient to continue palliative chemotherapy.

This is the first case report of a clinical benefit of silibinin administration in a breast cancer patient.