Biomodulatory approaches to chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer

Breast cancer that has become resistant to first-line or second-line chemotherapy is a very difficult clinical situation, often involving a woman who is still relatively healthy. It is in this setting in other diseases that investigational treatments have been attempted, including biological approaches. Even if the tumour is still responsive to chemotherapy given at high dose-intensity, the addition of a complementary strategy may well improve the long-term outlook for many patients. In the near future, anti-angiogenesis strategies will be available as a treatment for many or most solid tumours, and ultimately, replacement of oncogenes will be the method of choice for fundamentally attacking a cancer at its source. Presently, recruitment of the patientʹs immune response as an important ally of chemotherapy must not be overlooked.