[Breast cancer: new therapeutic strategies]

NEED FOR NEW CHEMOTHERAPY AGENTS: Metastasic breast cancer is an excellent model for studying anticancer agents: chemotherapy or hormonotherapy or compounds modifying the organism's response. If no adjuvant treatment is given after locoregional treatment of breast cancer, metastasis will develop within 10 years in 30% of the patients free of initial nodal invasion and within 5 years in 50% of the patients with initial nodal invasion. ADJUVANT TREATMENTS: Hormonotherapy and chemotherapy reduce mortality due to breast cancer by 10%. New adjuvant agents have been recently introduced. Taxans (docetaxel, paclitaxel) are the most active molecules since antracyclines. New aromataase inhibitors include letrozole and anastrozole. Their efficacy has been demonstrated in phase II and phase III trials, allowing their experimentation as adjuvant treatments.