Immunotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer: A literature review and new advances

Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly complex, heterogeneous disease and historically has limited treatment options. It has a high probability of disease recurrence and rapid disease progression despite adequate systemic treatment. Immunotherapy has emerged as an important alternative in the management of this malignancy, showing an impact on progression-free survival and overall survival in selected populations. In this review we focused on immunotherapy and its current relevance in the management of TNBC, including various scenarios (metastatic and early -neoadjuvant, adjuvant-), new advances in this subtype and the research of potential predictive biomarkers of response to treatment.

Keywords: Triple-negative breast cancer; Early disease; Immunotherapy; Biomarkers; Metastatic disease

Core Tip: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an exceptionally heterogeneous disease and historically a cancer with limited treatment options other than chemotherapy. Recent advances in immunotherapy has changed the standard of care in selected groups, especially in metastatic TNBC. This article review continues the detailed, updated and comprehensive literature review regarding immunotherapy in TNBC, including the discussion of clinical trials in different scenarios (metastatic, neoadjuvant, adjuvant) and potential biomarkers to provide useful knowledge for medical oncologists and the medical community. Our goal is sharing updated information for TNBC which is considered an overlooked population with an enormous necessity of novel treatments and biomarkers.