Emerging drugs in metastatic breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and comprises 26% of all cancers diagnosed in women in the United States. Among presenting patients, 3 - 6% already have metastatic disease, and 50 - 70% of the remaining patients develop systemic relapse. Recently many new drugs, particularly molecular targeted therapies, have been developed in the field.


OBJECTIVE
To review the current and emerging data on the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, with emphasis on novel therapies that show promise.


METHODS
PubMed and ASCO annual meeting abstracts were used for a literature search.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite improved response rates, conventional treatments still result only in transient remission in most cases. New therapeutic alternatives and new strategies to overcome drug resistance are needed to improve these results.
Dizdar
Omer
O
Hacettepe University Institute of Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara, Turkey.
Altundag
Kadri
K
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D012008:Recurrence; D012074:Remission Induction / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents