What is the best chemo combination for the triple-negative?

Let me answer in general terms. When we have looked at chemotherapy regimens over the past 2 decades in the adjuvant setting or early disease setting, what we have learned is the addition of taxanes such as Taxol (chemical name: paclitaxel) or Taxotere (chemical name: docetaxel) to previous regimens has added benefit. We also have evidence to suggest that using these regimens in what is called a dose-dense fashion, i.e., more frequent administration of the agents, seems to improve benefit. This appears to be true in triple-negative breast cancers as it is in other subtypes, but perhaps more so in triple-negative breast cancers. We are still wrestling with whether specific drugs should be included or excluded for triple-negative breast cancers. For instance, oncologists are currently arguing over the role of Adriamycin (chemical name: doxorubicin) in early stage breast cancer. Over the next few years we are likely to see a number of new agents enter the adjuvant setting. Currently, for instance, Avastin (chemical name: bevacizumab; an agent that targets blood vessels) is being studied in large adjuvant trials for early stage breast cancer including triple-negative breast cancer. There are also robust studies going on to see whether platinum-based chemotherapies, which damage DNA, may work better in triple-negative breast cancers than they do in other cancer types, but we do not yet have an answer to this question for early stage breast cancer patients.