Immunotherapy as maintenance treatment in metastatic triple negative breast cancer

Abstract

Metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC) is an aggressive disease associated with a poor prognosis as compared to other subtypes of breast cancer. Significant advances have been made in recent years with new approvals for PARP inhibitors for those patients who harbor germline BRCA mutations and immune checkpoint inhibitors for patients with programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expressing tumors. These therapies are associated with favorable toxicity profiles and improved health-related quality of life when compared with chemotherapy. Maintenance therapy, now recognized as the mainstay for patients with ovarian malignancies, takes advantage of the benefit of low-intensity therapies to suppress a disease over a prolonged period of time following maximal response to induction therapy. This strategy has been little explored in the treatment of mTNBC. Here, we briefly discuss the evidence to date lending credence to this treatment paradigm and examine the potential role of immunotherapy as maintenance in the management of mTNBC.

Keywords

Triple negative breast cancer / maintenance therapy / immunotherapy / PARP inhibitor

References

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