The mTOR inhibitor everolimus in combination with carboplatin in metastatic breast cancer--a phase I trial.

Aim: Despite advances in the the first- and second-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer, there remains a large unmet need for additional treatment options. As preclinical studies have suggested that combining everolimus with carboplatin may produce higher activity than each drug by itself, we initiated a phase I study of this combination.

Patients And Methods: Patients with pre-treated metastatic breast cancer received weekly carboplatin at AUC2 and daily oral everolimus at different dose-levels (level I: 2.

The mTOR inhibitor RAD001 sensitizes tumor cells to the cytotoxic effect of carboplatin in breast cancer in vitro.

Aim: The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B(AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway is aberrantly activated in many types of cancer, including breast cancer. It is recognized that breast cancer cells develop resistance to a variety of standard therapies through the activation of this pathway. We hypothesized that targeting this signaling by the mTOR inhibitor RAD001 may potentiate the cytotoxicity of a conventional chemotherapeutic drug, carboplatin, and enhance the treatment efficacy for breast cancer.