RxPONDER (SWOG S1007)
Postmenopausal women with a few positive lymph nodes and a low gene-test score can skip chemotherapy; premenopausal women still benefit from it.
Postmenopausal (n=3,350): 5-year iDFS 91.9% vs 91.3%, no chemotherapy benefit. Premenopausal (n=1,665): 5-year iDFS 93.9% vs 89.0% with chemotherapy (HR 0.60), a benefit possibly mediated by chemotherapy-induced ovarian suppression.
- 91.9 vs 91.3 out of 100 alive without the cancer coming back at 5 years with Endocrine alone compared with Chemo-endocrine; 0.6 more per 100.
- Roughly one extra person helped for every 167 treated. That is a rough figure taken from the two percentages, not a guarantee for any one person.
- Put another way, the treated group had about 2 percent higher chance of the event at any given time (hazard ratio 1.02).
- 89 vs 93.9 out of 100 alive without the cancer coming back at 5 years with Endocrine alone compared with Chemo-endocrine; 4.9 fewer per 100.
- On this measure the first group did worse, not better.
- Put another way, the treated group had about 40 percent lower chance of the event at any given time (hazard ratio 0.6, likely range 0.43 to 0.83).
- This is a surrogate endpoint: it measures the cancer being controlled or absent on scans and tests, which often, but not always, translates into living longer.
- These results apply to the people the trial enrolled: HR+/HER2- breast cancer with 1-3 positive nodes and recurrence score ≤25: endocrine therapy alone vs chemo-endocrine therapy. People in a different situation may not see the same effect.
- The trial selected people by a biomarker (HER2); the result should not be assumed for people whose cancer does not have it.
Numbers are from the trial as recorded here; see the source links in the table below. This is orientation, not medical advice: ask your team how closely the trial population matches you.
5,083 participants enrolled.
| Endpoint | Arm | n | Value | HR (95% CI) | p | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-year iDFS, postmenopausalprimary | Endocrine alone | — | 91.9% | 1.02 | — | link |
| Chemo-endocrine | — | 91.3% | ||||
| 5-year iDFS, premenopausalprimary | Endocrine alone | — | 89% | 0.6 (0.43–0.83) | — | — |
| Chemo-endocrine | — | 93.9% |
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- TrialTAILORx
Shares Gene-expression assay → chemotherapy omission, Kathy S. Albain, A formal regulatory route for validating a biomarker on archived trial samples, Oncotype DX.
- ProductGoserelin / leuprolide (ovarian function suppression)
Shares Ovarian function suppression (OFS), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.
- ProductMammaPrint (70-gene signature)
Shares Gene-expression assay → chemotherapy omission, HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.
- CompanyExact Sciences (Abbott)
Shares Oncotype DX, HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.
- ProductExemestane
Shares Ovarian function suppression (OFS), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.
- ProductLeuprolide (leuprorelin) and GnRH agonists
Shares Ovarian function suppression (OFS), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.
- InstitutionMontefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center
Shares Oncotype DX, HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.
- TrialSOFT & TEXT
Shares Ovarian function suppression (OFS), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer.