Combination Immunotherapy Appears Promising in Breast Cancer Subtypes
Sylvia Adams, MD, discusses the synergy between anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies as treatment of patients with breast cancer.
Sylvia Adams, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, director, Clinical Research, Breast Cancer Disease Management Group, NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses the synergy between anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies as treatment of patients with breast cancer.
Adams says this is a powerful combination. The anti-CTLA4 agent helps to unleash the immune response and invigorates the response, while anti-PD-L1 agents can further stimulate the T cell response. Overall, these are powerful immunotherapeutics, Adams says, and have demonstrated their ability in other cancers, such as melanoma.
In breast cancer, anti-PD-L1 therapy has already been approved for the treatment of patients with triple-negative breast cancer, but there is no approval for routine use of this therapy in breast cancer. These agents also tend to carry some toxicity, so Adams says she tries to limit use of this therapy to patients in trials that have poor prognosis.
