Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Front Immunol. 2024 Nov 1;15:1477980. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1477980. eCollection 2024.
Immunotherapy stands as the frontrunner in treatment strategies imparting efficient remission in various types of cancer. In fact, emerging breakthroughs with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in a spectrum of cancers have evoked interest in research related to the potential effects of immunotherapy in breast cancer patients. A major challenge with breast cancer is the molecular heterogeneity that limits the efficacy of many therapeutic regimes. Clinical trials have shown favorable clinical outcomes with immunotherapeutic options in some subtypes of breast cancer. However, ICI monotherapy may not be sufficient for all breast cancer patients, emphasizing the need for combinatorial approaches. Ongoing research is focused on untangling the interplay of ICI with established as well as novel anticancer therapeutic regimens in preclinical models of breast cancer. Our review will analyze the existing research regarding the mechanisms and clinical impact of immunotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer. We shall evaluate the role of immune cell modulation for improved therapeutic response in breast cancer patients. This review will provide collated evidences about the current clinical trials that are testing out the implications of immunotherapy in conjunction with traditional treatment modalities in breast cancer and summarize the potential future research directions in the field. In addition, we shall underline the recent findings related to microbiota modulation as a key regulator of immune therapy response in cancer patients and its plausible applications in breast cancer.
免疫疗法是治疗各种癌症的首选策略，能有效缓解癌症。事实上，免疫检查点抑制剂 (ICI) 在一系列癌症中的突破性进展引起了人们对免疫疗法在乳腺癌患者中潜在影响的研究兴趣。乳腺癌的一个主要挑战是分子异质性，这限制了许多治疗方案的疗效。临床试验表明，免疫治疗选择在某些乳腺癌亚型中具有良好的临床效果。然而，ICI 单药治疗可能对所有乳腺癌患者都不够有效，这强调了需要联合治疗方法。目前的研究重点是在乳腺癌的临床前模型中，阐明 ICI 与已建立的以及新型抗癌治疗方案的相互作用。我们的综述将分析现有的关于免疫疗法治疗乳腺癌的机制和临床影响的研究。我们将评估免疫细胞调节在改善乳腺癌患者治疗反应中的作用。这篇综述将提供关于目前正在测试免疫疗法与乳腺癌传统治疗方式联合应用的临床试验的综合证据，并总结该领域未来的潜在研究方向。此外，我们将强调与微生物组调节相关的最新发现，微生物组调节是癌症患者免疫治疗反应的关键调节剂，及其在乳腺癌中的可能应用。
