Combination Chemotherapy With or Without Darbepoetin Alfa in Treating Women With Stage III Breast Cancer

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more tumor cells. Colony-stimulating factors, such as darbepoetin alfa, may increase the number of immune cells found in bone marrow or peripheral blood and may help the immune system recover from the side effects of chemotherapy. Giving combination chemotherapy together with darbepoetin alfa after surgery may kill any tumor cells that remain after surgery. It is not yet known whether combination chemotherapy and darbepoetin alfa are more effective than combination chemotherapy alone in treating stage III breast cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized clinical trial is studying how well giving combination chemotherapy together with darbepoetin alfa works compared to combination chemotherapy alone in treating women with stage III breast cancer.