Recent advances in triple negative breast cancer: the immunotherapy era

Several accomplishments have been achieved in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) research over the last year. The phase III IMpassion130 trial comparing chemotherapy plus atezolizumab versus chemotherapy plus placebo brought breast cancer into the immunotherapy era. Nevertheless, despite encouraging results being obtained in this trial, many open questions remain.

A positive overall survival outcome was achieved only in PD-L1⁺ TNBC patients, suggesting a need to enrich the patient population more likely to benefit from an immunotherapeutic approach. Moreover, it remains unknown whether single-agent immunotherapy might be a good option for some patients. In this context, the discovery and implementation of novel and appropriate biomarkers are required. Focusing on the early onset of TNBC, neoadjuvant trials could represent excellent in vivo platforms to test immunotherapy agents and their potential combinations, allowing the performance of translational studies for biomarker implementation and improved patient selection.

The aim of our review is to present recent advances in TNBC treatment and to discuss open issues in order to better define potential future directions for immunotherapy in TNBC.