Immunotherapy is quickly becoming a buzzword in breast cancer research, as it has the potential to revolutionize how some patients are treated. In this episode of Breast Cancer Breakthroughs, we speak with Komen Scholar Melinda Telli, M.D., and Stephanie Graff, M.D., about how immunotherapy works, and we explore the groundbreaking clinical trials in which researchers are unlocking the potential of immunotherapy in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC).
Unlike the standard treatments of the past, which target tumors directly, immunotherapy activates the body’s immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells. And while immunotherapy coupled with chemotherapy is already improving outcomes for patients with TNBC, researchers continue to explore the potential to make these treatments even better.
Dr. Telli is a medical oncologist at Stanford University, and Dr. Graff is a medical oncologist at Brown University. In this episode, they touch on how TNBC has traditionally been treated with chemotherapy and other traditional forms of treatment. However, TNBC doesn’t respond to hormone therapy or targeted treatments. In the past, this left fewer options for patients with aggressive disease. Today, immunotherapy is changing the game by adding another layer to traditional treatment, giving some patients the potential for better outcomes.
Options Mean Hope
When Komen Advocate in Science Peggy Johnson was diagnosed with TNBC 13 years ago, her doctor could only offer her chemotherapy as a treatment option. “When I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, my oncologist looked at me and said, ‘Peggy, we don’t have anything to give you except what we give other people,’” she says. “It worked for me, but there’s a lot of women that it didn’t work for.”
Even at a time when immunotherapy was introduced as a possible treatment for other types of cancer, it was not a familiar word in the breast cancer community. Through several clinical trials, researchers have proved that immunotherapy is a safe treatment option that can help people with TNBC have a better overall response and long-term outcomes.
“Any time that you can use your body to help heal your body, which is exactly what immunotherapy does, we should be doing that. We may eventually be able to avoid all those chemotherapies,” Peggy says.
Today, researchers are actively investigating several potential treatment options that harness the power of the immune system, including antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) combined with immunotherapy, bispecific antibodies, cell therapy and personalized therapy through targeted biomarkers.
“The treatment options today are what make treatment better than it was 12 years ago when I started,” Peggy says. “Options are hope. Options are futures.”
Uncovering New Options through Clinical Trials
In addition to a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy for the treatment of TNBC, researchers are also exploring the potential of combining immunotherapy with ADCs. When ADCs, also known as “smart bombs,” deliver chemotherapy directly to the cancer cell, the cells release signals that alert the immune system and initiate an attack.
Through the TROPION and ASCENT clinical trials, among others, researchers are studying how TROP-2-targeting ADCs can enhance the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors in TNBC. Immune checkpoint inhibitors help immune cells find and attack cancer cells that are hiding.
Other emerging immunotherapies include bispecific antibodies, which target two proteins on cancer cells, and CAR-T therapy, where a patient’s immune cells are trained in a lab to fight cancer cells and then returned to the body.
Through these treatments, researchers hope to address the unmet needs of people living with metastatic TNBC, as well as those with earlier stages of disease. “As we continue to see success in treating metastatic TNBC, of course, our hope is that we can continue to advance those options to earlier lines of therapy,” Dr. Graff explains.
Paving the Way for Others
A lot has changed in the 13 years since Peggy received her diagnosis. Thanks to years of dedicated research, including research supported by Komen, people living with TNBC have more treatment options than ever before. “I’m so happy and so thrilled that through Komen’s efforts and the scientists that we support, we’ve been able to develop immunotherapy for triple negative breast cancer,” she says.
For those living with TNBC, participating in clinical trials is not only a way to access these promising new treatments but also an opportunity to help create new options that could save lives and forge a new treatment path for those who will be diagnosed in the future.
“Options are what everybody needs, whether it’s putting two drugs together, whether it’s one drug, whether it’s putting four drugs together,” Peggy says. “In the end, you’re helping the people that are going to come behind you.”
Sign up to stay informed about future episodes of Breast Cancer Breakthroughs, where we will delve into the most exciting advances in breast cancer treatment and technology coming soon for patients.
If you’d like more information about choosing a clinical trial, BreastCancerTrials.org, in collaboration with Susan G. Komen®, offers a custom matching service to help find clinical trials that fit your needs.
Breast Cancer Breakthroughs is possible thanks to our series sponsors:
