586 Background: Taxane- and anthracycline-based neoadjuvant regimens have become a standard treatment for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Previous studies have shown that adding carboplatin to neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens significantly improved pCR rate in TNBC patients. The NeoCART study was designed to compare the efficacy and safety of docetaxel plus carboplatin with standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy in TNBC. Methods: NeoCART was designed as a multicenter, randomized controlled, open-label, phase 2 trial. The patients enrolled were at least 18 years old with previously untreated stage II-III (T1cN1-2 or T2-4N0-2) invasive TNBC who had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1. All eligible patients were randomly assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, to the experimental arm (docetaxel (75 mg/m2) plus carboplatin (AUC 6) for six cycles) or the standard treatment arm (epirubicin 90 mg/m2 plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 four cycles, followed by docetaxel 100 mg/m2 for four cycles). The primary end point was the pCR rate (ypT0/is and ypN0). Secondary endpoints included event-free survival, frequency of breast-conserving surgery, and safety. Results: Between September 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019, 88 patients from 6 participating centers were included and randomized (44 patients to the DCb arm and 44 to the EC-D arm). In the primary end point analysis, 27 patients (61.4%, 95% CI 47.0 - 75.8) in the DCb group achieved a pCR compared with 17 patients (38·6%, 95% CI 24.3 - 53.0) in the EC-D group (odds ratio 2.52, 95% CI 2.4 - 43.1; p = 0.033). In different stage disease, the pCR rates of the DCb and the EC-D groups were 73.3% (22/30) vs 48.4% (15/31) in stage II (p = 0.046), and 35.7% (5/14) vs 15.4% (2/13) in stage III (p = 0.384). In patients with axillary lymph node involvement, the pCR rates were 45.8% (11/24) vs 30.8% (8/26) (p = 0.273); and 80.0% (16/20) vs 50.0% (9/18) with lymph node negative disease (p = 0.052). The frequency of breast-conserving surgery in the DCb and EC-D groups was 36.4% and 37.2%, respectively (p = 0·935). The grade 3/4 adverse events include anemia (4.5%), thrombocytopenia (2.3%), neutropenia (2.3%) and ALT/AST increased (2.3%) in the DCb group. Conclusions: Compared with the standard neoadjuvant regimen, docetaxel combined with carboplatin showed a higher pCR rate in TNBC. The higher pCR rate was more significant in patients with earlier disease stage and negative lymph node. Clinical trial information: NCT03154749 .
Impact of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Stage II–III Triple Negative Breast Cancer on Eligibility for Breast-conserving Surgery and Breast Conservation Rates
