Eribulin monotherapy in heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer patients in real life

Background and Aim: Our retrospective, single-center study aimed at evaluating the efficacy and safety of eribulin in heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer (MBC) in routine clinical practice. Subjects and Methods: Twenty-eight patients treated with eribulin for MBC between May 2014 and November 2017 were included in our study. Clinical and biological assessment of toxicity was controlled at each visit. Tumor response was evaluated every three cycles of treatment. Results: Median age at eribulin treatment was 52.5-year. Tumors were hormone receptor positive (71.4%), HER2-positive (10.7%), and triple negative (TN) (25%). Most of the patients (92.8%) presented with visceral metastases, mainly in the lymph nodes (57.1%) and liver (53.6%). Median previous metastatic chemotherapy line was 4 [1-7]. Median number of metastatic sites were 3 (1-4). Median number of eribulin cycles was 4. At the end of follow-up period, 36% of the patients were still alive. Eighteen patients died due to disease progression. The objective response rate was 21.5% with a 42.9% clinical benefit rate. Median progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) were 4 (95% CI: 2.7-5.2) and 14 (95% CI: 11.8-16.1) months, respectively. Treatment was well tolerated. None of the patients discontinued eribulin treatment due to toxicity. The most commonly reported toxicities were asthenia (71.4%), peripheral neuropathy (67.9%), and neutropenia (46.4%). Conclusion: Eribulin is an effective new treatment option in heavily pretreated MBC, with a manageable toxicity profile. Our results confirm that treatment with eribulin is feasible and safe in real-world patients.