Immunotherapy for breast cancer: past, present, and future

Abstract

Immunotherapy has shown promise in many solid tumors including melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer with an evolving role in breast cancer. Immunotherapy encompasses a wide range of therapies including immune checkpoint inhibition, monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, vaccinations, antibody-drug conjugates, and identifying other emerging interventions targeting the tumor microenvironment. Increasing efficacy of these treatments in breast cancer patients requires identification of better biomarkers to guide patient selection; recognizing when to initiate these therapies in multi-modality treatment plans; establishing novel assays to monitor immune-mediated responses; and creating combined systemic therapy options incorporating conventional treatments such as chemotherapy and endocrine therapy. This review will focus on the current role and future directions of many of these immunotherapies in breast cancer, as well as highlighting clinical trials that are investigating several of these active issues.

Comparative Profiling of Metastatic 4T1- vs. Non-metastatic Py230-Based Mammary Tumors in an Intraductal Model for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

“…Although the immune system is primed to attack tumor cells during this disease process, it mostly fails to stop the overall breast tumor progression. It stands for reason that immunotherapy, that aims at restoring the anti-tumor immune response, may be effective in quenching breast cancer (2). Mouse models that replicate human breast cancer play an essential role in the preclinical screening of such drugs.…”

Cryoablation combined with allogenic natural killer cell immunotherapy improves the curative effect in patients with advanced hepatocellular cancer

“…However, due to down-regulating the expression of MHC, tumor cells often immune escape [ 19 ] . Manipulating the immune system for therapeutic benefit in HCC patients has been studied for many decades [ 20 – 22 ]. NK cells are belonged to the innate immune system and play a importment role against cancer in the early time [ 23 , 24 ].…”

An important discovery on combination of irreversible electroporation and allogeneic natural killer cell immunotherapy for unresectable pancreatic cancer

“…Some previous reports have demonstrated that cancer development and progression in APC patients are associated with the tumor immune [ 13 – 18 ]. Immunotherapy benefit in APC patients has been studied for many years [ 19 – 21 ]. However, due to the expression of MHC down-regulated, tumor cells often appeared immune escape [ 22 ].…”