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In the last few decades the approach to metastatic breast cancer (MBC) treatment using chemotherapy, either as single or combination agents, has been largely studied and a wide spectrum of therapeutic options is now available. Anthracyclines and taxanes remain the cornerstone of treatment in this setting. The choice of combination chemotherapy versus monochemotherapy is still open to debate since results from clinical trials are, unfortunately, conflicting. Despite improvements in response and disease-free survival rates, there has been no overall survival benefit reported although toxicity is increased. Therefore, based on available data, clinical decision-making for a busy practitioner should consider not only patient/tumor characteristics and the potential benefits of treatments, but also their toxicity profiles and patient preferences. Novel cytotoxic compounds have been approved for clinical use and combination regimens incorporating these agents may bring new treatment opportunities for MBC patients. In this review, we summarize the main achievements and the currently available and future combinations of cytotoxic drugs for patients with HER2-negative MBC.

We describe the case of a woman who has been undergoing treatment for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer since 2002. She presented liver metastasis at diagnosis in February 2002. Combination therapy with docetaxel and trastuzumab was administered as first-line treatment, and a complete response of the hepatic lesion and a partial response at the breast primary cancer site were achieved. After 6 cycles of therapy, the patient underwent surgical excision of the breast and then received trastuzumab alone until progression, which occurred in March 2010 with the development of a right chest wall lesion. The patient progressed after therapy with trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) received as second-line treatment. Subsequently, a combination of lapatinib and capecitabine was started in April 2011. At this writing, the patient is still receiving treatment (24 months) and is showing a long-lasting response with a favorable safety profile.