Utidelone exhibits favorable responses in refractory patients with advanced breast cancer

Utidelone plus capecitabine has brought therapeutic and survival benefits in the second-line treatment of patients with advanced breast cancer (ABC). However, its efficacy in the subsequent treatment remains to be disclosed. Our study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of utidelone in the treatment of refractory ABC in real-world.

In this single-center, retrospective cohort study, clinical data were retrospectively collected from patients who received utidelone at Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shenzhen after developing resistance to anthracyclines or taxanes. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 18.0 software (IBM SPSS, Armonk, NY, USA).

A total of 20 patients were included in the study, 95% of whom had previously received third-line therapy or more at the time of utidelone treatment. The overall objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were 15% and 80%, respectively, with a median PFS of 4.7 months [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.98-6.42]. Patients with hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR⁺/HER2^-) exhibited better efficacy, with an ORR of 30% and a DCR of 90%. Among the five patients who developed brain metastases (BMs) and received combined anti-angiogenic therapy, the intracranial ORR (iORR) and intracranial DCR (iDCR) were 20% and 100%, respectively. In general, utidelone was well tolerated, with neurotoxicity being the main adverse event.

Utidelone demonstrates favorable efficacy and safety in patients with refractory ABC, particularly in HR⁺/HER2^- patients. The combination of utidelone with anti-angiogenic therapy shows promising intracranial anti-tumor activity and is expected to be a preferred option for ABC in subsequent lines of treatment.