Drugs for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer

Even for cancer, doctors will recommend some drugs to patients according to their condition. Experts say that the purpose of taking drugs is to control the disease at all times, and the same is true for breast cancer. So, what are the drugs for metastatic breast cancer? Let's listen to the experts' explanation.

Metastatic breast cancer treatment drugs

1. Furui: It is a new generation aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase inhibitors are generally well tolerated. However, adverse reactions such as gastrointestinal disturbances, weakness, headache, hot flashes and musculoskeletal pain are often seen.

2. Everolimus: Everolimus is a multifunctional mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor. mTOR is an intracellular serine/threonine kinase and an intracellular central regulator that can sense changes in intracellular growth factors and nutritional energy signals.

3. Paclitaxel injection: Paclitaxel has been approved by the FDA for adjuvant treatment of advanced breast cancer. It can also be used to treat patients who have failed combined chemotherapy or relapsed within 6 months of adjuvant treatment. Common adverse reactions of paclitaxel are bone marrow suppression, myalgia, arthralgia, mucositis, nausea and vomiting, as well as hair loss and peripheral nerve damage.

4. Epothilone B: A new type of microtubule stabilizer that promotes GTP-dependent tubulin polymerization to form microtubules and has a stabilizing effect on microtubules. It inhibits the disassembly of microtubules by stabilizing the microtubule assembly process, leading to abnormal arrangement of microtubule bundles and forming astrocytes, which in turn inhibits the formation of normal mitotic spindles in cells, thereby preventing the growth of tumor cells and even inducing their death.

5. Herceptin: It is a recombinant DNA-derived humanized monoclonal antibody. Its single-drug efficacy is similar to that of chemotherapy drugs, but it does not cause adverse reactions such as hair loss, mucositis, and hematological toxicity caused by chemotherapy drugs, and patients have good tolerance.

6. Xeloda: It is a new generation of oral fluoropyrimidine drugs. It can be quickly absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract in the form of original drugs and metabolized into anti-tumor active substances in the liver and tumor tissue. It has been approved in many countries for patients with advanced breast cancer who have failed taxane and anthracycline treatment.

7. Apatinib: The chemical name of apatinib is methanesulfonic acid N-[4-(cyanocyclopentyl)phenyl]{2-[(4-pyridinylmethyl)amino](3-pyridine)}carboxamide, which is a small molecule VEGFR inhibitor that mainly inhibits the activity of VEGFR2 and also has a certain inhibitory effect on VEGFR1 and RET.

8. Sulai: The growth of breast cancer cells depends on the presence of estrogen. The estrogen in the circulation of postmenopausal women is mainly converted from androgens in the adrenal glands, liver, muscles and fat through aromatase in peripheral tissues. Therefore, inhibiting aromatase to prevent estrogen production is an effective selective treatment for postmenopausal hormone-dependent breast cancer. This drug can significantly reduce the level of estrogen in the blood circulation of menopausal women, but has no significant effect on the biosynthesis of corticosteroids in the adrenal glands.

9. Sipatinib: Sipatinib is a small molecule, multi-target, 4-anilinoquinazoline receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor that inhibits epidermal growth factor receptor (ErbB1/EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (ErbB2/HER-2).

10. Anti-estrogen drugs: These are the most commonly used non-steroidal anti-estrogen drugs that can bind to estrogen receptors and block the effects of estrogen on the receptors. The most commonly used is tamoxifen (TAM), which can be used for rescue treatment of recurrent and metastatic breast cancer, postoperative adjuvant therapy, and prevention of breast cancer in high-risk healthy women.

Before taking the medicine, we should read the instructions carefully to avoid adverse reactions. The above is an introduction to the drugs for treating breast cancer. I hope it will be helpful to you. Experts remind that while taking the medicine, you can also take care of your diet.