Epirubicin: Is it like doxorubicin in breast cancer? A clinical review

Anthracyclines are among the most effective chemotherapy treatments available for various types of cancer. The anthracyclines commonly used in treatment of breast cancer are either epirubicin or doxorubicin. Epirubicin is an epimer of doxorubicin with important role in the chemotherapy treatment of both early and metastatic breast cancer. The efficacy of epirubicin is similar to doxorubicin while epirubicin has a different toxicity profile particularly in regard to cardiotoxicity. Epirubicin has been incorporated into most of the anthracycline containing chemotherapy combinations in well-conducted clinical trials involving large numbers of patients. It has also been investigated in studies involving the administration of epirubicin in dose-dense chemotherapy schedules. Short term follow up of dose-dense clinical trials demonstrated safety comparable to that of doxorubicin. This review summarizes published clinical trials investigating epirubicin in the treatment of early and advanced breast cancer.

蒽环类药物是治疗多种癌症最有效的化疗药物之一。治疗乳腺癌常用的蒽环类药物是表柔比星或多柔比星。表柔比星是多柔比星的差向异构体，在早期和转移性乳腺癌的化疗中都起着重要作用。表柔比星的疗效与多柔比星相似，但具有不同的毒性特征，特别是在心脏毒性方面。在涉及大量患者的精心设计的临床试验中，表柔比星已被纳入大多数含蒽环类药物的化疗组合中。在涉及表柔比星剂量密集化疗方案给药的研究中也对其进行了研究。剂量密集型临床试验的短期随访表明，其安全性与多柔比星相当。这篇综述总结了已发表的关于表柔比星治疗早期和晚期乳腺癌的临床试验。