Combination Chemotherapy and Trastuzumab in Treating Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. Monoclonal antibodies such as trastuzumab can locate tumor cells and either kill them or deliver tumor-killing substances to them without harming normal cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combining paclitaxel, carboplatin, and trastuzumab in treating women who have metastatic breast cancer that overexpresses HER2.

OBJECTIVES: * Compare the response rate associated with two different treatment schedules of paclitaxel, carboplatin, and trastuzumab (Herceptin) in women with overexpressed HER-2 growth factor receptor and metastatic breast cancer. (Schedule A closed to accrual effective 05/16/2003). * Compare the time to progression and median survival in patients treated with these schedules. * Compare the toxicity of these treatment schedules in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to prior adjuvant therapy (none vs less than 6 months vs at least 6 months), estrogen receptor (ER) status and progesterone receptor (PR) status at initial diagnosis (ER positive/PR positive or unknown vs ER positive/PR negative vs ER positive or unknown/PR negative), menopausal status (pre vs post), and performance status (0 or 1 vs 2). Patients are assigned to 1 of 2 treatment schedules. * Schedule A: Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 3 hours followed by carboplatin IV over 30 minutes and then trastuzumab (Herceptin) IV over 90 minutes on day 1 of week 1. Treatment repeats every 3 weeks for up to 8 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients then receive trastuzumab IV over 30 minutes every 3 weeks until disease progression. (Schedule A closed to accrual effective 05/16/2003). * Schedule B: Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 1 hour followed by carboplatin IV over 15 minutes on day 1 of weeks 1-3 and trastuzumab IV over 90 minutes immediately after carboplatin on day 1. Treatment repeats every 4 weeks for up to 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients then receive trastuzumab IV over 30 minutes every 3 weeks until disease progression. Patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years and then every 6 months thereafter. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 36-92 patients (18-46 per treatment schedule) will be accrued for this study within 7-18.5 months. (Schedule A closed to accrual effective 05/16/2003).