Docetaxel, Doxorubicin, and Cyclophosphamide in Treating Women With Advanced Breast Cancer

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as docetaxel, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide, use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug and giving them at different times, may kill more tumor cells. It is not yet known which combination chemotherapy regimen is more effective for breast cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase I trial to compare the effectiveness of two regimens of docetaxel combined with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide in treating women who have advanced breast cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Determine the pharmacokinetic profile of docetaxel, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide in women with advanced breast cancer. Secondary * Compare the pharmacokinetic profile of this regimen in these patients vs the historical pharmacokinetic profile of docetaxel. OUTLINE: This is a randomized, open-label, crossover, multicenter study. Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms. * Arm I: Patients receive doxorubicin IV over 15 minutes and cyclophosphamide IV over 15 minutes on day 1 followed by doxorubicin IV over 15 minutes, cyclophosphamide IV over 15 minutes, and docetaxel IV over 1 hour on day 22. * Arm II: Patients receive doxorubicin IV over 15 minutes, cyclophosphamide IV over 15 minutes, and docetaxel IV over 1 hour on day 1 followed by doxorubicin IV over 15 minutes and cyclophosphamide IV over 15 minutes on day 22. Treatment in both arms continues in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients may receive additional therapy at the discretion of the treating physician. Patients are followed at 3-4 weeks. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 24 patients (12 per treatment arm) will be accrued for this study within 7 months.