Advances in adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: the role of taxanes.

The role of adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer is an area of intense clinical research. New agents are being evaluated with the hope that they will eradicate microscopic metastatic disease that may evolve into macroscopic systemic disease. The data emerging from clinical trials incorporating the taxanes before or after anthracycline-based chemotherapy (AC or FAC) are not yet mature to make a definite statement regarding their effect on the clinical endpoints. Numerous clinical trials have been completed that address the taxane issue and are awaiting analysis. Numerous other clinical trials in the United States and internationally are actively accruing patients. As the data from large clinical trials become available and the existing data from reported trials mature, a unifying understanding of the contribution that taxanes provide in the treatment of breast cancer will emerge.