Bryan P. Schneider, M.D., of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group in Indianapolis, and colleagues conducted a study involving 4,554 women with operable breast cancer who received chemotherapy (up to four cycles of doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide every three weeks) followed by either paclitaxel every three weeks for four cycles (P3), paclitaxel weekly for 12 cycles (P1), docetaxel every three weeks for four cycles (D3), or docetaxel every week for 12 cycles (D1).

The researchers found that grade 2 to 4 neuropathy occurred in 18, 22, 15, and 13 percent of patients who received at least one taxane dose in the P3, P1, D3, and D1 arms of the study, respectively. No significant relationship was observed between the development of neuropathy and disease-free survival, overall survival, or recurrence-free survival, in a model including age, race, obesity, menopausal status, tumor size, nodal status, treatment group, neuropathy, and hyperglycemia.

"Taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy does not correlate with improved outcomes in patients with operable breast cancer treated with adjuvant taxane therapy," the authors write. "This finding provides reassurance that biomarkers predictive for neuropathy will likely not enrich for patients who are more likely to benefit from taxane therapy and may also be useful for the identification of patients who are most likely to benefit from adjunctive therapies to mitigate neuropathy."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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