The State-of-the-Art of Immunotherapy in the Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatment: Main Drugs, Combinations, Mechanisms of Action and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and is one of the leading causes of death from cancer in women worldwide. Despite, or perhaps because of its aggressive nature and current lack of targeted treatments, significant basic research and clinical trials are being conducted to provide new treatment options. Historically, chemotherapy has been the only viable systemic treatment option for early and advanced diseases. However, recently published clinical trials have shown that immunotherapy plays an important role in the treatment paradigm of this devastating clinical condition. Objective: To demonstrate the state-of-the-art results of immunotherapy in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. Method: An integrative literature review was carried out between January/2020 and March/2020, in PubMed, SciELO, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and LILACS databases, using the keywords “Immunotherapy”, “Breast Cancer”, and “Triple Negative Breast Cancer” and its respective correspondents in Portuguese. Results: 465 articles were found; of those, 457 were excluded after applying the methodological criteria. Thus, 8 articles that met the inclusion criteria, showing the main therapeutic agents used, mechanisms of action and therapeutic combinations, remained. 25 clinical trials were found in progress on the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. Conclusion: Although immunotherapy is somewhat recent, its results with PARP, PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors have shown satisfactory results. New trials with subgroups stratified according to specific tumor biomarkers are needed in order to assess if some subgroups have greater benefit to treatment.