OBJECTIVES:
Primary
- Determine the clinical response in patients with HER2/neu-positive stage I-III breast cancer and bone marrow micrometastases treated with docetaxel, carboplatin, trastuzumab, and bevacizumab.
Secondary
- Investigate the specific contribution of VEGF and CXCL-12 (SDF-1) signaling to bone marrow support of HER2/neu-positive breast cancer cells.
- Evaluate growth factor and chemokine expression profiles to investigate the potential correlation of expression with patient outcome and frequency of tumor cell clusters (mammospheres with tumor stem cell phenotype) in microenvironment supported cultures.
OUTLINE: Patients receive docetaxel IV, carboplatin IV, and bevacizumab IV over 30-90 minutes on day 1 and trastuzumab IV over 30-90 minutes on days 1, 8, and 15. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After 6 courses, treatment modifications may apply according to response.
Tumor tissue and bone marrow samples may be collected for further laboratory analysis.
After completion of study therapy, patients are followed up for 30 days.