Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) monotherapy appears to be effective in a small cohort of patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC). This supports the exploration of strategies for increasing the efficacy of immunotherapy. To enhance overall response and clinical outcomes, several immune-based combinations are being investigated.
Areas covered: The authors present a synopsis of current, state-of-art immune-based combinations in this setting and reflect on future possibilities. They shed light on recently presented and published clinical trials and ongoing studies. A literature search was conducted in October 2021; in addition, abstracts of international cancer meetings were reviewed.
Expert opinion: Clinical trials suggest that ICI monotherapy could be beneficial in a minority of mTNBC patients; conversely, several immune-based combinations have reported notable results in recently presented or published studies. Some of these combination strategies have been approved for mTNBC - as in the case of chemoimmunotherapy in PD-L1 positive patients. Numerous trials are investigating novel ICI-based combinations and their results are eagerly awaited.
Keywords: Breast cancer; combinations; immune checkpoint inhibitors; immunotherapy; pembrolizumab; sacituzumab govitecan; triple negative breast cancer.