Weekly Vinorelbine and Oral Capecitabine as Treatment for Stage IV Breast Cancer

Single-agent chemotherapy is rarely curative in advanced breast cancer. Combination regimens are the next logical step in the attempt to improve tumor response rates and prolong survival. Oral capecitabine is a convenient way to deliver drug a 5-fluorouracil analogue. In addition, vinorelbine is a newer vinca alkaloid chemotherapeutic agent with improved efficacy and probably improved toxicity over its predecessors in the treatment of breast cancer. We propose combining these two agents. As these two drugs have non-overlapping toxicities and differing mechanisms of action, we anticipate being able to deliver both drugs in near full dose. Secondary purposes include assessing whether there is a correlation between intra-tumoral enzyme levels and prognosis.