The Role of Capecitabine in Early Stage Breast Cancer

Adjuvant systemic therapy is partly responsible for the decrease in breast cancer mortality we have seen over the past two decades. Hormonal therapy and combination chemotherapy based on anthracyclines and taxanes represent the best current approach for early breast cancer patients. Primary as well as secondary development of resistance represents the major challenges to improve our results. Major benefits have been achieved as we recognized populations with particular molecular abnormalities (HER2 positive) and applied specific targeted agents (trastuzumab). However, the addition of other traditional chemotherapy agents has remained a challenge. With consistent data both as a single agent and as part of combinations in the treatment of advanced disease, capecitabine is being explored in over 20,000 early breast cancer patients currently participating in clinical trials. In this review, we discuss the available evidence for the incorporation of capecitabine in the (neo)-adjuvant treatment of patients with breast cancer.