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Copper depletion agent reduced breast cancer relapse
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Tetrathiomolybdate was associated with an improvement in RFS of more than 80% in a cohort of women with breast cancer, according to results of a phase 2 study.
Researchers conducted the investigation to determine whether tetrathiomolybdate can affect bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells in a cohort of 40 women with an elevated risk for breast cancer recurrence.
Eligible participants had stage III or stage IV breast cancer without evidence of disease, and stage II if a triple-negative tumor was present. There were 28 women with stage II or stage III disease, and 12 with stage IV disease.
The study dose of oral tetrathiomolybdate was 100 mg. The drug was assigned to maintain ceruloplasmin <17 mg/dL for 2 years or until a relapse event occurred.
Change in endothelial progenitor cells served as the primary endpoint.
At the 1-month mark, 75% of patients attained the copper depletion target. Copper depletion was observed in 91% of the triple-negative patients and 41% of those with luminal subtypes.
Patients who demonstrated a copper depletion also experienced a significant reduction in endothelial progenitor cells per mL by 27 (P=.04), according to the results.
Six patients relapsed during the study period. Of them, one had endothelial progenitor cells maintained below baseline levels.
At 10 months, RFS was 85% (95% CI, 74.6-96.8). Hematologic toxicities were the only grade 3 or grade 4 adverse events reported, with neutropenia occurring in 3.1% of cycles, and anemia and febrile neutropenia occurring in 0.2%.
“[Tetrathiomolybdate] may promote tumor dormancy and ultimately prevent relapse,” the researchers wrote.
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