Issues
A brief overview of several recent advancements of targeted-therapies and antibody-conjugate drugs for advanced triple-negative breast cancer
ABSTRACT
Breast cancer (BC) is among the most prevalent cancers affecting women. One of the main subtypes of BC, triplenegative breast cancer (TNBC), is considered the most aggressive and it is associated with high mortality, poor prognosis, and early and frequent recurrence, especially in premenopausal women. Unlike other subtypes, hormone receptor (HR) positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive, TNBC does not have specific cellular receptor markers, which would favor response targeted treatments. For this reason, the conventional standard-of-care (SOC) for early onset TNBC consists of neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy, alone or in combination with surgery and/or radiotherapy despite its toxic and off-target side effects.
In recent years considerable efforts have been made to identify specific predictive biomarkers for TNBC to open a window for more targeted and precise therapy to improve overall survival and quality of life. Along with immunotherapy immune checkpoint inhibitors, targeted-therapies with poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors have emerged and show promising results. One of the most recent targeted therapies approved by the FDA and EMA is an antibody-conjugate drug (ACD or ADC) called sacituzumab govitecan (SG) (Trodelvy). The results of clinical trials point to Trodelvy as a potential novel targeted therapy for TNBC.
IMPACT STATEMENT
Recent advancements in drug development have led to an expanded list of FDA and EMA approved drugs against triple-negative breast cancer.