Breast Cancer Adjuvant Therapy - Adriamycin + Cyclophosphamide

USED WHEN?

Used as a combination add-on (adjuvant) chemotherapy to treat breast cancer patients with auxiliary lymph node involvement after surgical removal of the primary cancer.

DOSAGE

●Adriamycin (doxorubicin) is administered at 40 to 75 mg/m2 when administered in combination chemotherapy.

●Cyclophosphamide capsules are 25 mg or 50 mg. It can also be administered via infusion. Hydration is very important to reduce the risk of urinary tract toxicity.

A total of 4 cycles of AC is administered every 21 days.

Overdosing may happen. Takes 3-4 weeks to recover.

MECHANISM OF ACTION

●Adriamycin inhibits cell proliferation and in

duces DNA strand breaks in cells.

●Cyclophosphamide is a prodrug, which is processed in the liver. The products induce covalent crosslinks in cellular DNA, which inhibits replication and induces cell death. Both of these drugs are cytotoxic drugs.

SIDE EFFECTS

● Adriamycin related severe side effects: cardiomyopathy, cardiac arrhythmias, secondary cancers, leakage of blood vessels, tissue necrosis, severe low blood cell count, tumor lysis syndrome, radiation sensitization etc.

● Cyclophosphamide related severe side-effects: hyper-sensitivity, low blood counts, urinary tract and renal, cardiac and pulmonary toxicity, secondary cancers, infertility etc.

CLINICAL STUDIES

There are many clinical studies published and several meta-analyses have been performed. The following clinical study is presented in a simplified fashion.

Clinical study 1

♦ In a phase 3 clinical trial with 1016 patients who had surgically removed stage I to III invasive breast cancer, patients were treated with either doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide or with docetaxel+ cyclophosphamide.

The results are as follows:

● Doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide :

5-year disease-free survival rate = 80%

5-year overall survival rate = 87%

● Docetaxel + cyclophosphamide:

5-year disease-free survival = 86%

5-year overall survival rate = 90%

For more information: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17135639

We can help you with more simplified data so that you can make informed decisions about your treatment options. Visit www.cancertherapies4u.com

for more information.

OTHER COMBINATIONS

AC-T = Adriamycin + cyclophosphamide + taxol

BREAST CANCER OUTCOME

5-year overall survival is 90% in the USA. 15% of all cancer cases is breast cancer but 7% of all cancer related mortality is due to breast cancer. There are 39 FDA-approved drugs to treat breast cancer in the USA.

Sources: NCI and NIH.

#breastcancer #chemotherapy #cancer #AC #cancertreatments #doxorubicin #adriamycin #cyclophosphamide

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Author: Anirban Mukherjee, PhD

The author is a scientist at the University of Texas at Austin and researches novel chemotherapeutic targets and chemotherapeutic DNA damage processing .