Phase I-II Study of Vorinostat, Paclitaxel, and Bevacizumab in Metastatic Breast Cancer

PRiMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the recommended phase II dose of oral suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (vorinostat) in combination with weekly paclitaxel and bevacizumab in patients with chest wall recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. (Phase I) II. To determine the efficacy (response rate, response duration, time to disease progression, time to treatment failure, and overall survival) and toxicity of oral suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (vorinostat) in combination with weekly paclitaxel and bevacizumab in patients with chest wall recurrent or metastatic breast cancer. (Phase II) SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine whether in vivo treatment with vorinostat induces a) acetylation of proteins including histone H3 and H4, b) ubiquitylation of proteins, and c) the levels of p21 and p27 levels in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pre treatment vs. cycle 1 day 2 after 3 VORINOSTAT doses but prior to paclitaxel. II. To determine whether in vivo treatment with vorinostat induces a) acetylation of proteins including histone H3 and H4, ubiquitylation of proteins, and c) the levels of Bim, Bak, tBID, p21 and p27 levels, as well as down regulate Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and survivin in chest wall recurrent or metastatic breast cancer cells (pre treatment vs. cycle 1 day 2 after 3 vorinostat doses but prior to paclitaxel). III. To determine whether in the primary breast cancer (and metastatic cancer if available) pretreatment levels of Her-2, Estrogen Receptor (ER)-alpha, Progesterone Receptor (PR), p21, p27, p-AKT, p-ERK1/2, HDAC1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10 and SIRT2 levels predict for the response to treatment with VORINOSTAT plus paclitaxel. OUTLINE: This is a phase I, multicenter, dose-escalation study of vorinostat (SAHA) followed by a phase II, open-label study. Phase I: Patients receive oral SAHA twice daily on days 1-3, 8-10, and 15-17, paclitaxel IV over 1 hour on days 2, 9, and 16, and bevacizumab IV over 30-90 minutes on days 2 and 16. Treatment repeats every 28 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of SAHA until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose preceding that at which 2 of 3 or 2 of 6 patients experience dose-limiting toxicity. The recommended phase II dose is defined as one dose level below the MTD. Phase II: Patients receive SAHA at the recommended phase II dose and paclitaxel and bevacizumab as in phase I.