Immunotherapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer

Berkan KARADURMUŞa , Nuri KARADURMUŞa
aUniversity of Health Sciences Gülhane Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara, Türkiye

Karadurmuş B, Karadurmuş N. Immunotherapy for metastatic breast cancer. In: Şendur MAN, ed. Current Immunotherapy Landscape for Solid Tumors. 1st ed. Ankara: Türkiye Klinikleri; 2024. p.58-64.

ABSTRACT
The appearance of immunotherapy, especially immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), is a major revolution in the therapeutic management of solid tumor malignancies. Among breast cancer subgroups, the strongest evidence for ICI is in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). In TNBC patients, many preclinical studies have demonstrated enhanced anti-tumor immune responses with ICI treatment. The use of ICI as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy in patients with metastatic TNBC has been evaluated in clinical trials. Especially in first line, promising results have been obtained in patients whose tumors have high expression of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) or programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1). In the KEYNOTE-355 trial, Pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy also improved progression-free survival and overall survival in metastatic TNBC patients with a PD-L1 combined positive score >10. Other sub-groups in which ICI trials are underway include hormone receptor-positive breast cancer and HER2-positive breast cancer. In these subgroups, ICI is being studied in combination with chemotherapy, targeted therapy and antibody-drug conjugates. A variety of new immunotherapeutic agents are being investigated across all subtypes, including new ICIs, cancer vaccines, adoptive cellular therapy, and oncolytic viruses.

Keywords: Immunotherapy; immune checkpoint inhibitors; breast neoplasms

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