IMMUNOTHERAPY FOR THE TREATMENT OF BREAST CANCER

MORENO AYALA, MARIELA A.; GOTTARDO, MARIA FLORENCIA; ASAD, ANTONELA S.; ZUCCATO, CAMILA; NICOLA, ALEJANDRO; SEILICOVICH, ADRIANA; CANDOLFI, MARIANELA

EXPERT OPINION ON BIOLOGICAL THERAPY

INFORMA HEALTHCARE

Año: 2017

1471-2598

Breast cancer is the most common cancer as well as the first cause of death by cancer in women worldwide. Although the routine treatment of this disease improves the outcome of patients with early stages of this disease, there is no effective therapy for disseminated disease. Immunotherapy has emerged as a powerful therapeutic strategy for the treatment of many cancers. Although traditionally conceived as a non-immunogenic tumor, breast cancer is now considered a potential target for immunotherapy. Here we review different immunotherapeutic strategies that are currently being tested for the treatment of breast cancer: (i) blockade of immunological checkpoints, (ii) antitumor vaccines, (iii) adoptive T cell transfer therapy, and (iv) adoptive immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies. Since breast tumors entail several mechanisms to avoid antitumor immunity, the immunological characterization of individual tumors as well as the combination of suitable immunotherapeutic approaches will be required to achieve significant clinical benefit in these patients.