Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Factors influencing bone metastasis in HER-2 negative breast cancer and the efficacy of capecitabine plus docetaxel

Wei Zhang¹, Tianzuo Chen¹, Yan Gao¹, Yapeng Hu¹, Jingjing Zhao², Chunluan Yuan³

¹Graduate Training Base of Lianyungang First People's Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University, Jiangsu 222000, China; ²Lianyungang Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University/The First People’s Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, Jiangsu 222000, China; ³Oncology Department, The First People’s Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, Jiangsu 222000, China.

For correspondence:- Chunluan Yuan Email: Yuanchunllyg@outlook.com

Accepted: 27 July 2024 Published: 31 August 2024

Citation: Zhang W, Chen T, Gao Y, Hu Y, Zhao J, Yuan C. Factors influencing bone metastasis in HER-2 negative breast cancer and the efficacy of capecitabine plus docetaxel. Trop J Pharm Res 2024; 23(8):1365-1370 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v23i8.18

© 2024 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: The clinical data of HER-2 negative breast cancer patients were analyzed to investigate factors that influence bone metastasis.

Methods: A total of 754 HER-2 negative breast cancer patients composed of the bone metastasis (237 patients) and non-bone metastasis (481 patients) group, were retrospectively and systematically evaluated for their clinicopathological characteristics, treatment modalities and their influencing factors. Both groups were administered a combined treatment of capecitabine and docetaxel and the statistical association between these factors and the development of bone metastases was investigated. Primary tumor location was identified through imaging while the hormone receptor status and tumour molecular classification were assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on tumor samples and protein expression/genetic profiling, respectively.

Results: A significant difference was seen between the groups in terms of T-stage, N-stage, hormone receptors, tumour molecular classification, axillary lymph node metastasis and quality of life scores (FACT-B) after combined therapy with capecitabine plus docetaxel (p < 0.05), while statistical significance was absent in terms of age and location of the primary site (p > 0.05). Furthermore, logistic regression analysis revealed that high T-stage, Luminal A molecular staging and the occurrence of axillary lymph node metastases were all risk factors for bone metastases in HER-2 negative breast cancer patients (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Combined therapy with capecitabine and docetaxel is effective in the treatment of bone metastases in patients with HER-2 negative breast cancer. A more comprehensive study involving a larger population of diverse patients will be conducted in the future to provide more reliable clinical data.

Keywords: Breast cancer, Bone metastases, HER-2 negative, Capecitabine/docetaxel therapy