Inclusion Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Histologically confirmed invasive mammary carcinoma

- Stage IV disease

- Basal-like disease (triple-negative, hormone-refractory, HER2-negative)

- No locally recurrent breast cancer

- No symptomatic brain metastases

- Patients with a history of brain metastases are eligible provided they are
clinically stable for > 3 weeks after completion of radiotherapy and are not
taking steroids or therapeutic anticonvulsants that are cytochrome P450 3A4
(CYP3A4) modifiers

- Patients with asymptomatic brain metastases are eligible provided they are not
taking prophylactic anticonvulsants that are CYP3A4 modifiers

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

- Pre- or post-menopausal

- European Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-1

- Life expectancy ≥ 6 months

- Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥ 1,000/mm^3

- Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3

- Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)

- Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times ULN (≤ 3 times ULN in the presence of liver metastasis)

- Direct bilirubin will be measured in patients with Gilbert syndrome

- serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamate pyruvate
transaminase (SGPT) ≤ 1.5 times ULN (≤ 3 times ULN in the presence of liver
metastasis)

- Alkaline phosphatase ≤ 3 times ULN (in the presence of liver metastasis)

- Not pregnant or nursing

- Negative pregnancy test

- Fertile patients must use effective barrier contraception during and for 3 months
after completion of study treatment

- Able to swallow and retain oral medication

- No malabsorption syndrome, disease significantly affecting gastrointestinal function,
or resection of the stomach or small bowel

- No concurrent uncontrolled illness including, but not limited to, any of the
following:

- Ongoing or active infection requiring parenteral antibiotics

- Impaired lung function (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or lung conditions
requiring oxygen therapy)

- New York Heart Association class III-IV congestive heart failure

- Unstable angina pectoris, angioplasty, stenting, or myocardial infarction within
the past 6 months

- Uncontrolled hypertension (systolic BP > 180 mm Hg or diastolic BP > 100 mm Hg,
found on 2 consecutive measurements separated by a 1-week period and despite
adequate medical support)

- Clinically significant cardiac arrhythmia (multifocal premature ventricular
contractions, bigeminy, trigeminy, ventricular tachycardia that is symptomatic
or requires treatment [grade 3 according to NCI Common Toxicity Criteria for
Adverse Events v3.0])

- Uncontrolled diabetes (hyperosmolar state, ketoacidosis, etc.)

- Psychiatric illness or social situations that would compromise patient safety or
limit compliance with study requirements including maintenance of a
compliance/pill diary

- No symptomatic neuropathy ≥ grade 2

- No other invasive cancer within the past 5 years except for completely resected basal
cell or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin or successfully treated cervical
carcinoma in situ

- No hypersensitivity to paclitaxel or drugs using the vehicle Cremophor, Chinese
hamster ovary cell products, or other recombinant human antibodies

- No history of hepatitis B or C

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

- See Disease Characteristics

- Recovered from prior therapy

- Prior total cumulative life-time dose of doxorubicin ≤ 360 mg/m^2 or epirubicin ≤ 640
mg/m^2

- No more than 4 prior chemotherapy treatments in the metastatic setting (not including
endocrine therapy or single-agent biologic therapy)

- At least 2 weeks since prior investigational drugs

- At least 14 days since prior and no concurrent herbal or dietary supplements

- At least 14 days since prior and no concurrent CYP3A4 inducers

- At least 7 days since prior and no concurrent CYP3A4 inhibitors

- Concurrent radiotherapy to painful bone metastases or areas of impending bone
fracture allowed provided radiotherapy is initiated before study entry

- No other concurrent anticancer therapy (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery,
immunotherapy, hormonal therapy, biologic therapy)