Breast Cancer Treatment: To tARget or Not? That Is the Question

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) lacks effective targeted therapies.
• Androgen receptor (AR) has shown potential as a therapeutic target in TNBC, but as a sole target, it has had limited success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the role of AR in TNBC treatment by analyzing clinical trials.
• To investigate the efficacy of combination therapies targeting AR with other signaling molecules.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of existing and completed clinical trials targeting AR or co-targeting AR.
• Identification of prevalent biomarkers used in combination therapy with AR inhibitors, including CDK4/6, CYP17 lyase, and the PI3K/AKT pathway.

Main Results:

• Combination therapies involving AR inhibitors and other biomarkers like CDK4/6, CYP17 lyase, and PI3K/AKT pathway components are frequently explored in TNBC clinical trials.
• Previous attempts to use AR as a single-agent target for systemic therapy in TNBC have been largely unsuccessful.

Conclusions:

• Targeting AR in combination with other signaling molecules represents a promising strategy for improving TNBC treatment.
• Analyzing the clinical benefit rate (CBR) in combination therapy trials is essential for advancing TNBC therapeutic options and patient prognoses.