Platinum-based therapy for triple-negative breast cancer treatment: A meta-analysis

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of platinum-based therapy on the short-term efficacy and survival rate in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). A search of available databases was conducted, based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, for trials conducted between January 2006 and January 2014. The bibliographies of the included studies were examined with the same criteria. Included studies were evaluated using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE), and extracted data were analyzed using RevMan 5.1 and GRADEprofiler 3.6. Eight studies with a total of 1,349 patients were included. The meta-analysis revealed that the pathological complete response rate and overall response rate in TNBC patients who were treated with a platinum-based regimen was significantly higher than that in those treated with a non-platinum-based regimen (49.2 and 64.3%, respectively). The disease-free survival rate and overall survival rate were not significantly different between TNBC patients treated with a platinum-based regimen and those treated with a non-platinum-based regiment (P>0.05). Platinum-based chemotherapy in TNBC patients resulted in improved short-term efficacy. Platinum-based regimens may therefore be more sensitive to TNBC patients. However, future multicenter randomized controlled trials are required to validate these findings and to determine whether platinum-based chemotherapy can extend the survival rate of TNBC patients.